Educating nurses for leadership roles.

As a result of the growing shortage of nurses and the dramatically changing role of the front-line nurse manager, leadership education for nurses is of critical importance. The purpose of the project described in this article was to design, implement, and evaluate an innovative model of nursing leadership development for students enrolled in registered nurse to bachelor of science in nursing or registered nurse to master of science in nursing programs. A guided "action-learning" course was designed that focused on both core knowledge and experiential learning.

The Governor's Wellmobile: Maryland's mobile primary care clinic.

This article describes the development and implementation of the Governor's Wellmobile program. Designed to increase access to community-based health care for uninsured, underserved populations and to provide innovative clinical practice, research, and education opportunities for students and faculty, this fleet of four full-service, primary care clinics "on wheels" is managed and operated by the University of Maryland School of Nursing, demonstrating that nurse-managed practice models are valuable to the state's health care delivery system. Issues of long-term financial sustainability are presented, as well as lessons learned about the importance of public, private, and philanthropic partnerships and political support in ensuring the success of such programs.

Addressing the shortage. Strategies for building the nursing workforce.

For more than two decades, nursing educators and administrators have grappled with issues of declining student enrollments and the concurrent "defection" of nurses from the labor market. This article describes both short- and long-term strategies for addressing the nursing shortage and identifies new opportunities for collaboration in building the nursing workforce of the future.