How To Increase Nursing Enrollment In Anathena

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1 Strategic Plan Introduction and Context INTRODUCTION As society progresses into the twenty-first century, the profession of nursing will evolve In a health care context that is undergoing dramatic changes due to a profound growth in knowledge and technologies and a growing emphasis to improve health care quality. Unfortunately, the current context is also influenced by significant shortages of professional nurses throughout all segments of the health care system and is compounded by a significant nursing faculty shortage as well. The College of Nursing strategic plan positions us to achieve innovation and meet societal demands for professional nursing. We recognize that professional education will be foundation to meeting the changes of future healthcare systems. As national leaders on many fronts, we are committed to educating our students through best practices that are state-of-the-art, yet patient focused. Improved educational opportunities are crucial to alleviate professional nursing and faculty shortages. State governmental efforts to alleviate the shortage began in 2002 when the Arizona Legislature passed SB 1260, directing all universities and community colleges to double the number of graduates in nursing programs by In response to this legislative mandate, the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association proposed a new five-year demonstration program called Arizona's Partnership in Nursing Education (APNE), collaboration among Arizona's healthcare community, the state's universities and community colleges, the federal Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and federal and state policymakers. The program is designed to double nursing school enrollment in Arizona by During the past few years, the universities and community colleges have made significant progress in meeting the legislative mandate. The University Of Arizona College Of Nursing successfully doubled annual undergraduate admissions in 2007 and will double the number of graduates in AY 2008 through an innovative accelerated second-degree bachelors program and strategic partnership with key hospitals in Tucson. We plan to extend this model beyond Tucson to continue to increase Arizona s nursing workforce. Keys to success will be successful academic-community partnerships, sustained and new funding strategies, and faculty development. 1

2 While statewide efforts are underway to alleviate the nursing shortage, educational institutions throughout Arizona and the nation are experiencing increased demands for nursing faculty. Substantial evidence indicates that the current inadequate supply of nursing faculty constrains the level of enrollment in nursing programs. Improved access to nursing education requires more qualified nursing faculty. Qualified applicants to nursing schools are not being accepted at four-year colleges and universities because there are insufficient numbers of faculty, clinical placement sites, and classroom space to accommodate them. A rapidly aging nursing faculty also compounds the faculty shortage. The mean age across all faculty ranks in 2004 was 51.5 years. Moreover, the average age of doctorally prepared faculty by rank was 56.8 years for professors, 54.6 years for associate professors, and 50.8 years for assistant professors. Limited years to teach for current faculty and retirements in the next decade will substantially impact the nursing shortage if new strategies for faculty development are not met. Further, within the nation s healthcare system, shortages of faculty across disciplines threaten the stability of the healthcare infrastructure. Chief Executives of the nation s academic health centers report that worsening faculty shortages are threatening the nation s health professions educational infrastructure with eighty-one percents of CEOs rating nursing faculty shortages as the most severe. 1 Many also are calling for doctoral preparation for nursing faculty. Raising faculty credentials to the doctoral level requires improved rigor in academic preparation. Doctoral education is an area in which the College of Nursing excels and we offer two programs: the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP). Nationally, schools with PhD programs average about 4.5 graduates per year. 2 The UA College of Nursing far exceeds the annual national average of PhD graduates. In 2006, we had 14 PhD graduates and in 2007, we had 18 PhD graduates. Our strategic plan emphasizes innovation in doctoral education and adds doctoral graduates prepared for the highest level of nursing practice as well as clinical research. Building on initiatives begun in 2002 to increase enrollments and graduation rates in our undergraduate programs and to improve access to high quality education to graduate nursing students throughout Arizona and the Nation, we will capitalize on distance education methodologies to alleviate both the nursing and faculty shortages. As we approach the next five years, our benchmarks will be measured in an environment where faculty excels in knowledge development and application, where graduates become leaders in research, education, and practice, and where collective engagement throughout society demonstrates why we are one of the nation s leading Colleges of Nursing. Last, cutting edge, top ranked educational programs are not possible without the availability of faculty who create and implement innovative teaching technologies to improve student learning, as well as faculty who develop cutting edge knowledge that can be translated into practice to improve both the care of patients and advance the health of communities. Although the College of Nursing has consistently maintained a high level of extramural funding for faculty programs of research, this has decreased in recent years. 2

3 The challenge is to increase our research funding in an environment in which monies for clinical research has become increasingly competitive, and one in which there is a severe shortage of nursing faculty. The College of Nursing strategic plan addresses these challenges. We believe that our challenges also create new opportunities to build our areas of research emphasis over the next five years in order to continue to obtain extramural funds for our programs of research and scholarship. The Strategic Plan is found in Table 1, and the five year plan categorized by student, faculty, community engagement, and research successes is in Table 2. CONTEXT University Goal A. Prepare Arizona s youth and ensure access and opportunity. College of Nursing: Ensure student access to all programs The University Of Arizona College Of Nursing will ensure student access to all programs by supporting innovative teaching methods with technology to facilitate student learning and increase the financial foundation to address the needs to students to ensure access to all programs. A.1. Support innovative teaching methods with technology to facilitate student learning. The College of Nursing has become a national leader in the use of technologies to deliver nursing education, beginning in 2002 with the transformation of our PhD program for online delivery followed by our nurse practitioner program in 2004, our new acute care nurse practitioner program in 2005, and our Doctor of Nursing Practice in Utilizing technologies, we developed innovative teaching methods that improved access to our top-quality graduate programs throughout the state and nation. Online education enables students to remain within their home communities as they obtain their education. This is an important strategy to improve the local nursing workforce, including the nurse faculty workforce. Between 2009 and 2013, the College of Nursing will implement new state-of-the-art technologies to increase student access to our programs throughout the state. We will integrate new technologies in our teaching methods in 100% of our classes, increasing application by ten percent annually from our baseline of 50%. We will also increase the use of high fidelity simulation to twenty-five percent of baccalaureate nursing clinical training hours by High fidelity simulation uses technology to closely simulate reallife patient situations. In 2007 we inaugurated our state-of-the-art patient learning simulation center the SILC (Steele Innovative Learning Center). The SILC offers an array of tools allowing student to simulate nursing care ranging from basic skill acquisition through participation in complex, realistic scenarios designed to enhance higher-level clinical thinking and actions. We have three Sim Man manikins (human patient simulators) in individual critical care bays, which are computer controlled. Fulltime instructor and student support is provided in the SILC by two full-time registered nurses who assist clinical instructors with scheduled structured lab times, as well as additional supervision and support to individual students and small groups. 3

4 Additionally, SILC is connected to Master Control in Biomedical Communications giving the center real-time video conferencing capabilities, which reach, across the State of Arizona and beyond. This connectivity in turn allows the SILC to integrate with the Arizona Telemedicine Program statewide network. The sophistication of delivering courses online has changed dramatically since the first uses of html technologies. The evolving technological tools to create virtual classrooms online is both exciting and challenging. We will continue our edge-running online programs by incorporating these evolving technologies, particularly virtual reality technologies into our courses. We will expand the use of virtual multimedia technologies in our graduate programs by 2011, as we have already purchased some technologies within Second Life, a 3-D virtual world to begin developing new virtual media course strategies. A.2. Increase the financial foundation to address needs of students to ensure access to all programs. Ensuring student access to our academic programs will also be facilitated through additional scholarship support as a result of an increased financial foundation by Strategies to enhance the financial support and foundation of the College of Nursing will include expanding and involving the Advisory Board and the College of Nursing Alumni Council to increase fundraising efforts that support student scholarships. Benchmarks of our success will include the establishment of a $100,000 scholarship endowment by January 2010 with the principal in this endowment increasing by fifteen percent annually. Currently our Tucson healthcare partner contracts are renewed annually. We will also establish multiyear contracts with our partners for the accelerated BSN program. We will establish three year contracts to assure accelerated BSN program continuity and we will also build in an annual inflation escalator in these contracts by We will pursue extramural training funds from public and private sources to support graduate education. We will increase graduate students who have extramural funding with both institutional and individual awards by five percent annually. University Goal B: Engage and graduate students who can contribute to the state, nation, and world. College of Nursing: Ensure excellence in all academic programs to advance nursing knowledge and patient care The College of Nursing has established strategies and benchmarks to ensure excellence in all academic programs to advance nursing knowledge and patient care. Specifically, the College will 1) Conduct academic programs to prepare a workforce that helps address the needs of the state and nation; 2) Aggressively recruit, admit and graduate students who reflect diversity of the state; 3) Enhance the quality of the undergraduate curriculum to ensure achievement of core competencies; 4) Enhance the quality of the graduate programs to optimize learning opportunities; 5) Recruit and retain faculty to support innovation to improve learning outcomes; and 6) Increase faculty diversity. 4

5 B.1. Conduct academic programs to prepare a nursing workforce that helps meet the needs of the state and nation. The CON will build on several current innovative initiatives in undergraduate and graduate education to create new opportunities to alleviate the nursing shortage. Undergraduate Programs. In 2009 we will transition from a five semester to a four semester traditional BSN program. A four-semester program will enable us to admit more students and will result in a more rapid entry into the healthcare environment. We will increase the number of BSN graduates by 5% per year, and continue to exceed the state and national passage rates of the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) for 1 st time candidates from BSN programs annually. We will continue to collaborate with our current and future health care service partners to increase the number of BSN graduates who will enter the profession at staff-level positions in hospitals and communities. Our innovative 14-month accelerated BSN program began in 2003 in partnership with local health care systems. This partnership resulted in our ability to double undergraduate admissions by 2007, and we will double the number of BSN graduates by the end of the 2008 academic year. We will seek opportunities to expand this program to communities throughout Arizona and use technologies as well as local partnership to expand educational access to BSN education in locales away from Tucson such as Yuma and within our minority communities such as our Tribal communities. Graduate Programs. We will increase the number of graduates with the Doctor of Nursing Practice by twenty percent per year by We will continue to exceed the national average of PhD graduates annually. Further, we will add new graduate educational specialties during the next five years. In 2009, we will add Palliative Care as a graduate subspecialty for Doctor of Nursing Practice students. We will also pursue extramural funding to add an educational program for nurse executives in the Doctor of Nursing Practice program. Faculty development is imperative to address the shortages of clinical faculty who teach in BSN programs. As previously noted, faculty shortages are significantly limiting admission of qualified students. We will expand our graduate programs by developing a Master s in Nursing Education to prepare clinical instructors, which will result in the ability to increase enrollment in the state s community college as well as university nursing programs by We will also examine strategies to develop a pool of clinical faculty within our service partner agencies. For example, we will seek new strategies to engage masters or higher prepared clinicians within agencies where our students train to take leading roles as clinical educators. To assure preparation as faculty, we will develop a postmaster s graduate certificate program in education that will enable master s prepared clinicians to complete and seek national certification as nurse educators through the National League for Nursing. Extramural funding will be obtained by 2011 for a Master s and post master s certificate program in nursing education, and we will graduate the first class of 8-10 master s/postmaster s students in nursing education by At the doctoral level we began to aggressively increase PhD admissions and graduation rates in 2002, and we now far exceed national averages for PhD graduates. Our doctoral 5

6 programs will soon graduate two types of doctorally prepared nurses. We will continue preparing nurse scientists with a PhD to fulfill the roles of scientist and faculty. We will also aggressively pursue attracting young baccalaureate prepared nurses into our doctoral programs. The aging faculty pool coupled with significant numbers of retiring faculty in the next decade increases the need to attract younger men and women. Finally, as the DNP is an alternate terminal degree, some graduates will also assume faculty roles, particularly in advance practice nursing programs (e.g. nurse practitioner programs). This will improve the faculty pool as well. B.2. Aggressively recruit, admit and graduate students who will enrich a diverse student body. A growing body of knowledge demonstrates that lack of diversity in the healthcare workforce contributes to health disparities. To create the comprehensive pipeline and linkages, multiple strategies are necessary to achieve and sustain diversity. The College of Nursing is committed to increasing diversity by providing multiple support services to students and removing financial barriers to nursing education. On a national scale, 24.8 percent of nursing students enrolled in entry-level baccalaureate nursing programs in 2006 were minorities. The College of Nursing exceeds national minority rates on Hispanic and American Indian minority enrollments. In 2007, 14.4% of our undergraduate enrollment was Hispanics and 2.4 % were American Indian. We will engage strategies to continue to build a rich diverse student body. We will also continue to ensure our ninety percent or greater retention and on-time graduation rates for BSN students, and increase our retention rate for doctoral students to ninety percent by The College of Nursing will also seek federal funding to improve the diversity of the nursing workforce. Specifically, we will resubmit an application for the Nursing Workforce Diversity Grants by The College of Nursing has comprehensive strategies for recruitment, admission and retention to support strategic plans for a student body rich in diversity the next five years. Our recruitment strategies include, but are not limited to: 1) Recruitment visits, printed materials and health professions sessions to target underrepresented and educational disadvantaged students at the middle school, high school and community college levels; 2) A comprehensive Contact Management program aimed at prospective students. As an example, in 2007over 2,310 prospective applicants were contacted multiple times in response to educational program inquiries. Additional contacts from a professional advisor are made to all doctoral level prospective students. 3) Clear and concise program information and student expectations are distributed electronically to arm the potential applicant with critical information needed to make a program selection; 4) Faculty/student interaction are facilitated; and 5) Incentives are provided for BSN graduates to enter graduate programs. Admissions strategies include: 1) Holistic review of applications at all levels to support the strategic plan for diversity and academic excellence; 2) Recruitment packages for graduate applicants, and 3) Admission applications that solicit applicants to describe their diverse talents, experiences, opinions and cultural backgrounds. Retention strategies include: 1) Comprehensive orientation to the programs and socialization to the College 6

7 provided at all levels; 2) A 4-week Early Warning System for all students who are not performing satisfactorily in programs; 3) Designated Academic Learning Specialist from the Office of Student Affairs who is available for all students in need of assistance; 4) Clear academic and clinical expectations; 5) Duel advising model. All students are assigned a professional advisor and a faculty advisor/mentor at orientation; 6) Academic progression monitoring to ensure preparation for course work; 7) Ample opportunities for instruction and skill development; and 7) Provision of financial support to students. B.3. Enhance the quality of the undergraduate curriculum to ensure achievement of core competencies. The healthcare industry has changed dramatically in the last decade. As a result, the American Association of College of Nursing revised the The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice in 2008 to assure that graduates are prepared with terminal competencies needed to enter into professional nursing practice. These Essentials provide the curricular framework for baccalaureate nursing education. Revisions of the end-of-program BSN competencies will be undertaken for our two BSN programs to reflect the updated competencies. The new four-semester traditional BSN curriculum will be revised to incorporate AACN BSN Essentials. We will graduate the first students from this revised curriculum in May We will also review our accelerated BSN program to assure that the terminal competencies are congruent with the AACN BSN Essentials. This review will be complete by We will also expand the geographical boundaries of our BSN program by partnering with our outreach stakeholders. As noted, the College of Nursing has developed innovative approaches to partnering with the community to develop the nursing workforce; Our Accelerated Partnership Program (APP) is a 14-month BSN program for students with previous degrees. We currently have four service partners to implement this program Carondelet Hospital System, Tucson Medical Center, University Medical Center and Northwest Medical Center. Our partner s educational contract allows the College to offer a tuition free program to students and in exchange the students sign contracts to work for these partner hospitals for three years. We currently enroll 96 students annually. The partnership enrollment will enable us to double the number of BSN graduates in the 2008 academic year. We will explore additional partnerships outside the greater Tucson metropolitan area to expand the number of BSN graduates. This will include exploring partnership options with communities such as Yuma and the Navajo nation and utilizing distant education strategies such as online methodologies and Telemedicine. We will begin with Yuma Regional Hospital in 2009 and implement the APP program in Yuma by We will also explore other organizations (e.g., Native American Tribal Councils) that might be interested in the outreach APP program. This approach enables students to stay in their communities while attending the APP program, which is especially important to facilitate access for rural and Native American students. B.4. Enhance the quality of the graduate programs to optimize learning opportunities. 7

8 In an era of a critical nursing shortage including a serious faculty shortage, collaboration is essential to maximize creativity and resources to attract students and faculty into the profession. Arizona has one of the most serious nursing shortages in the country, so it will take collaboration to help alleviate this shortage. One strategy is to partnership with other colleges and universities in the state to offer courses that can be taught across universities. We will expand course offerings by partnering with other Arizona Universities and share 1-2 courses by 2011 with Arizona State University. In our technology driven, online programs, in addition to faculty mentoring, mentoring of our PhD students in geographic areas where they live is also valued. We will partner with off-site researchers to enhance research residencies and serve as co-sponsors for predoctoral fellowship applications for our PhD students. We will ensure that all our PhD students will have an off-site research co-mentor identified by B.5. Recruit and retain faculty to support innovation to improve learning outcomes Despite the state, regional and national shortage of nursing faculty, attracting and retaining faculty who are innovative teachers is important to maintain our leading status. This requires a work environment that faculty perceive as positive, productive, and supportive. A survey conducted in 2008 indicates that salaries in the College of Nursing for clinical faculty are lower than the other state universities as well as Pima Community College. We will address salary equity with peer and with other state institutions by We will also reward faculty who implement innovation teaching strategies and technologies. By 2009 we will implement an annual Innovative Teaching Award that has a monetary component. B.6. Increase faculty who will enrich the educational environment. According to the American Association of College of Nursing the need to attract diverse nursing students is paralleled by the need to recruit more faculties from minority populations as nationally, only 10.8% of full-time nursing school faculty are from minority backgrounds, and only 5.7% are male. In the College of Nursing there are two minority faculties on the tenure track and in 2008 one male was hired. Lack of minorities within the nursing professoriate may send a message to students that diversity is not valued or career opportunities may be lacking. Several national efforts are underway to improve the diversity of the nursing faculty. Strategies employed across the country include the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program, a program designed to alleviate the nation s nursing shortage by dramatically expanding the pipeline of students from minority backgrounds in accelerated nursing programs. AACN and the Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing s Future launched the Minority Nurse Faculty Scholars Program in 2007 to provide scholarship funding and mentorship and leadership development to assure successful completion of graduate studies and preparation for a faculty role. Other national strategies include federal funding for nursing workforce development programs, including Nursing Workforce Diversity grants that provide funding for projects to increase nursing education opportunities for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, including racial and ethnic minorities and underrepresented groups. 8

9 Arizona is represented by significant diversity. It is home to twenty-one sovereign American Indian tribal communities and significant Latino populations of Mexican/American descent. The College of Nursing recognizes the need to improve diversity of faculty and will implement strategies to recruit faculty from underrepresented groups in the nursing profession to enrich the educational environment by University Goal C. Provide world class research that improves the human condition. College of Nursing: Develop and disseminate knowledge for translation to clinical practice to enhance the well being of individuals. The College of Nursing is committed to advancing the science and practice of nursing through research as well as education. The commitment is evident in a sustained focus on research and scholarly pursuits in spite of the ongoing constraints on funding for clinical research at the federal level. The three research focal areas in the College of Nursing reflect the scholarly endeavors of faculty and form the substantive foundation for doctoral study. The focal areas also reflect the priorities of the National Institute of Nursing Research, which is a major funding source for nursing research. These focal areas include: Understanding Mechanisms to Prevent and Treat Biological Injury, Reducing Risks and Promoting Health in Vulnerable Populations, and Managing Consequences of Aging or Chronic Illness. These focal areas are addressed with research for persons with cancer, cardiovascular disease and stroke, pulmonary disease, and diabetes. Over the past four years, the College of Nursing has invested in resources to enhance the infrastructure to support both junior and senior investigators in their programs of research. Clinical as well as laboratory space has been renovated to support both biobehavioral and physiologic research in the College of Nursing. A full time statistician and part time editor have been hired as well as an accountant for both pre and post award budget management. Junior faculty have been mentored in manuscript writing with an ongoing Writer s Group. They are also mentored in grant writing, and internal mock reviews are conducted to provide feedback prior to grant submissions. A minimum of two competitive intramural research awards ($20,000 each) are given annually. A summer research program provides salary support for manuscript and grant writing and the conduct of pilot research projects. Strategic new initiatives that address incentives and rewards will be implemented to increase extramural funding for research and scholarship. C.1. Create new incentives to increase intramural funding for research and scholarship. First, incentives will be created to encourage faculty productivity. A formal mentoring program will be established for junior faculty to partner with a senior investigator for both mentoring and to facilitate research collaboration. Faculty teaching and committee workloads will be adjusted for semesters in which they are actively writing and submitting extramural proposals. These activities are expected to result in an increase in intramural funding by 10% per year and an increase in the number of faculty who receive 9

10 extramural funding, as well as increase in the number of data driven publications annually. C.2. Create new rewards to increase extramural funding for research and scholarship. Faculty who are research intensive need to be rewarded for their ability to obtain extramural funding for their programs of research. Rewards will include merit raises for research intensive faculty, nominations for prestigious regional and national awards and membership into the American Academy of Nursing. Development activities will be targeted to develop two research endowments by 2013 to support research intensive faculty as well. C.3. Recruit world class faculty to increase extramural funding for research and scholarship. Recruitment of senior faculty with funded programs of research to replace the increased numbers of faculty retirements is a major challenge in the College of Nursing. In the past five years seven full professors have retired and have not been replaced at the professorial level. The current national trend indicates that the most effective strategy to recruit outstanding senior faculty with funded programs of research is the availability of endowed chairs or professorships. Therefore, the benchmark for our success will be the goal of a funded endowed professorship that is established and filled with a senior scholar. Incentives to support faculty in development of their programs of research as well as grant proposal development and submissions, as well as new rewards for faculty with funded programs of research will increase the number of faculty with extramural funding as well publications, faculty recognition for their programs of research, and research endowments. C.4. Enhance research and scholarship experiences of undergraduate and graduate students. The College of Nursing has an active Honors program, considering the required didactic and clinical hours of our traditional BSN students. We will continue to maintain the number of students who enroll and successfully complete the Honors Program requirements at 5%. We will maximize research mentorship opportunities for students to increase joint publications and scholarly presentation and posters. C.5. Develop and sustain centers of excellence in research focal areas. As noted above, three research focal areas have been identified in the College of Nursing to describe the major areas of research conducted by faculty. A funded NIH P20 exploratory center has facilitated research in Understanding Mechanisms to Prevent and Treat Biological Injury, and a T32 competitive continuation in this focal area has been resubmitted. The three focal areas enable us to target faculty with similar programs of research to continue to build critical masses to collaborate. Currently seminars are 10

11 conducted bi monthly for the Biologic Injury group, and these will be expanded in all three areas of research. A third strategy is to increase collaboration to maximize our research expertise and funding. This will be done through faculty recruitment and development of interdisciplinary research interest groups. We will develop a group in each of the three focal areas by University Goal D: Partner with and serve the people of Arizona College of Nursing: Initiate and engage in partnerships to meet local, regional and state health care needs The healthcare needs of Arizona s populations are complex and considerable. Community engagement on multiple levels is essential to increase access to care and decrease health disparities. Although ranked seventeenth in population, Arizona is ranked thirty-sixth in population density with the rural population of the state distributed over 95,000 square miles, and comprising nearly twenty-five percent of our residents. Sheer geography results in significant challenges related to access to healthcare as well as access to nursing education. Improving access to health care as well as improving access to top-quality nursing education at the local level is crucial to meet the health care needs of our citizens. Our community engagements will include partnerships with rural and underserved communities through community education, nursing education at the local level, and research. We recognize that community outreach is an opportunity to apply knowledge and resources to benefit our citizens as well as to foster relationship building between our communities and the College of Nursing. D.1. Engage the community to increase access to care and decrease health disparities. We will actively pursue opportunities to interact with communities and provide health information through strategies such as health fairs and health screenings. These events will be used to foster successful collaboration through consultation with and networking of faculty within our community-based organizations and will provide opportunities for student education within these communities. The College of Nursing also values effective partnerships that address the critical needs of communities as these partnerships help meet the learning and/or research objectives of faculty and students. We have successfully engaged rural and underserved communities for nurse practitioner education. Arizona statue , the Rural Health Professions Program, requires voluntary participation of up to ten nurse practitioner students from among the three state universities to participate in the program. As a result of federal funding the College of Nursing received in 2003, we now require all adult and family nurse practitioner students to have a minimum of 90 hours of supervised clinical practice in a rural and/or medically underserved healthcare facility. We also received funding in July 2008 for continuation of our acute care nurse practitioner program. During the project period, we will also require our acute care nurse practitioner students to have a minimum of 90 hours in a rural or regional health care facility. Our graduates also have significant potential to improve access to health care in our rural communities by serving as advance practice nurses in both primary and acute care 11

12 settings. Partnerships are important to help our rural and medically underserved communities to build their nursing workforce. During the next five years the College of Nursing will capitalize on our leadership in distant education and seek new opportunities to engage our communities in workforce planning and development. We will continue mandatory 90 hour rural and/or underserved placements for adult, family and acute care nurse practitioner students and we will increase the number of Doctor of Nursing Practice students who have rural and/or underserved placements by two students per year. We also will evaluate the impact of our rural and medically underserved community engagement strategies by tracking the number of graduates who take positions in these communities. D.2. Expand and diversify donor support. Maintaining and building a diverse stream of income is critical for the College of Nursing to meet our mission, and assist Arizona communities to meet local, regional and state health needs. We will seek new opportunities to expand and diversity donor support over the next five years. Opportunities to engage with community leaders, philanthropists, and nursing advocates through our Alumni Association to increase scholarship and research endowments will be implemented. We will also create new strategies and opportunities to expand the diversity of our donors to increase annual giving. W e will establish two new research endowments and a research professorship by 2013, a $100,000 scholarship endowment by January 2010 and raise the principal in this endowment by fifteen percent annually beginning in Annual donor support will increase by ten percent annually from 2009 to

13 The University of Arizona College of Nursing Table 2: Strategic Plan for I. Student Success Objectives Strategies Benchmarks A1. Support innovative teaching methods with technology to facilitate student learning. Implement new state-of-the-art technologies for teaching methodologies to increase student access throughout the state. A2. Increase the financial foundation Expand and involve Advisory Board and Alumni to address needs of students to ensure Council to increase fundraising to support access to all programs. scholarships. B.1. Conduct academic programs to prepare a workforce that helps address the needs of the state and nation. Establish multiyear contracts with partners in accelerated BSN program. Pursue extramural training funds from public and private sources to support graduate education. Revise and expand the two BSN programs options to ensure quality and increase enrollment Expand geographical boundaries of BSN program by partnering with outreach stakeholders. Technology integrated with teaching methods in 100% of classes by % 10% 10% 10% 10% Simulation laboratory experiences completely integrated into 25% of BSN clinical hours. By % 5% 5% 5% 5% Virtual multimedia technologies implemented in graduate programsby $100,000 scholarship endowment established by Virtual technology implemented in graduate program $100,000 Scholarship endowment established Principal in scholarship endowment increased 15% annually. 15% 15% 15% Three-year contracts signed with healthcare 3-Year contracts with partners with built in annual inflation escalator healthcare partners by Graduate students with extramural funding support increased 25% by % 5% 5% 5% 5% Number of BSN graduates increased 5% per year. 5% 5% 5% 5% 5% Annually exceed the NCLEX national & state pass rate Examination (NCLEX) pass rates for BSN annually exceed the national pass rate and state pass rate. Partnership option discussions completed with Completed Partnership Yuma, Telemedicine, Navajo reservation by fall, option discussions with Yuma, Telemedicine, and Navajo reservation Metrics Expand doctoral program to prepare advanced practitioners, as well as clinical scientists to increase nursing workforce. Partnership BSN program implemented in Yuma. DNP students graduates increased 20% annually The number of PhD graduates annually continue to exceed the national average of PhD graduates. Implemented BSN program in Yuma 20% 20% 20% 20% 20% PhD graduates continue to annually exceed the national average 8/1/2008 1

14 The University of Arizona College of Nursing Table 2: Strategic Plan for B.2. Aggressively recruit, admit and graduate students who will enrich a diverse student body. Implement new curriculum option for Master s or postmaster s certificate in nursing education to address the faculty shortage. Recruit and admit students who can positively influence health disparities in the state. Funding for Master s option in Nursing Education obtained by First class of 8-10 Master's option in nursing education students graduate in Outreach events targeting underrepresented diverse groups doubled Continue >90% retention rate and on-time completion Completion rates for all students maintained at rate for minority and non-minority BSN students. 90% or above. Funding for Master's option obtained Graduate 8-10 Master's option students Double outreach events targeting underrepresented diverse groups Completion rate for minority and non-minority students maintained at 90% or above annually Submit federal grant to support diversity work force development program Diversity workforce funding obtained by 2011 Obtain diversity workforce funding B.3. Enhance the quality of the undergraduate curriculum to ensure achievement of core competencies. Refine existing traditional program to reflect 2008 AACN BSN essentials. First class for revised 4-semester BSN program admitted by Admit first class of 4- semester BSN program First graduates of revised BSN program graduated in May First graduates of revised BSN program Review the APP BSN curriculum to assure congruence with 2008 AACN BSN essentials APP BSN curriculum review completed by 2010 Complete APP BSN curriculum review B.4. Enhance the quality of the graduate programs to optimize learning opportunities. B.5. Recruit and retain faculty to support innovation to improve learning outcomes. Expand the interprofessional model in the BSN curriculum Expand course options by partnering with other Arizona Universities. Partner with offsite mentors to expand the research experiences of doctoral students Address salary equity with peer and with other state institutions. Reward faculty who implement innovative teaching strategies/technologies. Interprofessional model in BSN courses increased 10% annually Partnership established with ASU to share 1-2 core graduate courses by % 10% 10% 10% 10% Partner with ASU to share 1-2 graduate courses annually 100% of students have off-site co-mentors by % 5% 5% 5% 5% Faculty salaries addressed by 2009 and Faculty salaries consistently equitable with peers and other state addressed schools. Annual Innovative Teaching Award with a monetary component established by 2009 and given annually. Establish annual Innovative Teaching Award with monetary component 8/1/2008 2

15 B.6. Increase faculty who will enrich the educational environment. II. Faculty Success C.1. Create new incentives to increase extramural funding for research and scholarship C.2. Create new rewards to increase extramural funding for research and scholarship. C.3. Recruit world-class faculty to increase extramural funding for research and scholarship C.4. Enhance research and scholarship experiences of undergraduate and graduate students. C.5. Develop and sustain centers of excellence in research focal areas. 8/1/ Implement strategies to recruit and retain faculty who will enrich the College of Nursing's educational environment. Create incentives to encourage faculty research productivity Reward faculty who implement innovative teaching strategies/technologies. Recruit senior faculty with funded programs of research Continue to sponsor an Honors program for BSN students Increase research mentorship opportunities for students Focus faculty recruitment on Centers for Excellence for research focal areas. Initiate seminars in research focal areas The University of Arizona College of Nursing Table 2: Strategic Plan for Recruitment outreach events for underrepresented faculty doubled by 2013 Double recruitment outreach events for underrepre-sented faculty Extramural funding increased by a minimum of 10% annually. 10% 10% 10% 10% 10% Number of faculty who are funded increased by 10% annually 10% 10% 10% 10% 10% Number of publications/citations increases 5% annually 5% 5% 5% 5% 5% Two research endowments funded by 2013 Two research endowments funded Number of faculty admitted to American Academy of Nursing increased by one annually Number of faculty nominated for regional or national recognition awards increases by 5% annually 5% 5% 5% 5% 5% Faculty salaries for funded faculty meet AACN 75th percentile by 2011 One endowed professorship established and filled with senior researcher by 2013 Honors program maintained at 5% of the student body annually. Faculty salaries meet AACN 75th percentile Honors program maintained at 5% of student body annually Establish an endowed professorship filled by senior researcher Number of students who present scholarship with their mentors increased 5% annually. 5% 5% 5% 5% 5% Number of students who co-author with mentors increased 5% annually. 5% 5% 5% 5% 5% One new faculty recruited annually in research focal areas Bi-monthly research seminars implemented in Implemented bimonthly all three focal areas. research seminars in the three focal areas

16 The University of Arizona College of Nursing Table 2: Strategic Plan for III. Community Engagement Success D.1. Engage the community to increase access to care and decrease health disparities. Increase collaboration to maximize research expertise and funding. Develop community outreach activities for rural settings. Develop strategies to engage rural and medically underserved communities in workforce planning. Three interdisciplinary research interest groups active by Three interdisciplinary research groups active One health fair or community screening Conduct one health fair or community screening annually in rural or medically underserved settings conducted annually in rural or medically underserved settings. Number of DNP students placed in rural or medically underserved settings increased by 2 annually Number of graduates practicing in rural or Track graduates practicing in rural or medically underserved settings annually medically underserved settings tracked annually. IV. Philanthropic Success D.2. Expand and diversify donor support. Meet with community leaders, philanthropists and nursing advocates to increase scholarship and research endowments. Create new strategies and opportunities for diverse donors to increase annual giving. Two new research professor endowments established by Two new research professor endowments established $100,000 scholarship endowment established by January 2010 (See above). $100,000 Scholarship endowment established Principal in this endowment increased by 15% annually beginning in % 15% 15% Annual donor support increased 10% annually. 10% 10% 10% 10% 10% 8/1/2008 4