Accelerating Progress in Seamless Academic Progression.

Introduction: The Institute of Medicine Future of Nursing (2011) report recommended nurses achieve higher levels of education and training through an improved education system that promotes seamless academic progression. The report cited evidence that a higher proportion of BSN prepared RNs in the workforce improves patient outcomes.

Methods: An extensive network of funding and grassroots support from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and AARP Foundation generated a host of activities to advance progress in this recommendation.

The Competency/Outcomes Model: Advancing Academic Progression.

Aim: This article describes the Competency Model (CM) as a promising curriculum framework to foster academic progression from the associate to the baccalaureate degree in nursing.

Background: The CM was identified by the Center to Champion Nursing in America as one of four seamless nursing academic progression models to streamline nursing academic progression. It is built on a foundation of authentic collaboration between education and practice partners to develop and maintain explicit, current, practice-relevant nursing education outcomes.

Nurses leading change to advance health.

Background: The article includes a review of selected past and current leadership initiatives as well as a summary of three leadership meetings convened by The Center to Champion Nursing in America, a partnership of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), AARP and the AARP Foundation.

Purpose: These "Leadership in Action" meetings were designed to address the Campaign for Action's (CFA) goal to increase the number of nurse leaders in health- and health care-related boardrooms at the local, state and national levels.

Methods: RWJF supported key nursing organizations in initial discussions around integrating state and national efforts to get more nurses onto boards leading to a active vibrant coalition making significant progress.

How do we actually put smarter snacks in schools? NOURISH (Nutrition Opportunities to Understand Reforms Involving Student Health) conversations with food-service directors.

Objective: In autumn 2012, Massachusetts schools implemented comprehensive competitive food and beverage standards similar to the US Department of Agriculture's Smart Snacks in School standards. We explored major themes raised by food-service directors (FSD) regarding their school-district-wide implementation of the standards.

Design: For this qualitative study, part of a larger mixed-methods study, compliance was measured via direct observation of foods and beverages during school site visits in spring 2013 and 2014, calculated to ascertain the percentage of compliant products available to students.

Healthier Standards for School Meals and Snacks: Impact on School Food Revenues and Lunch Participation Rates.

Introduction: In 2012, the updated U.S. Department of Agriculture school meals standards and a competitive food law similar to the fully implemented version of the national Smart Snack standards went into effect in Massachusetts.

Impact of Nutrition Standards on Competitive Food Quality in Massachusetts Middle and High Schools.

Objectives: To examine changes in competitive foods (items sold in à la carte lines, vending machines, and school stores that "compete" with school meals) in Massachusetts middle and high schools before and after implementation of a statewide nutrition law in 2012.

Methods: We photographed n = 10 782 competitive foods and beverages in 36 Massachusetts school districts and 7 control state districts to determine availability and compliance with the law at baseline (2012), 1 year (2013), and 2 years (2014) after the policy (overall enrollment: 71 202 students). We examined availability and compliance trends over time.

Shared Curriculum Model: A Promising Practice for Education Transformation.

Background: The shared curriculum model is one of four successful models of academic progression identified through a consensus-building process facilitated by The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, AARP, and the AARP Foundation.

Method: Seamless academic progression from the associate degree in nursing (ADN) to the baccalaureate degree in nursing (BSN) is achieved either by simultaneously revising both ADN and BSN curricula or by making targeted adjustments in ADN or BSN curricula to create a unified academic progression. Systematic vetting and definitive agreement on nursing prerequisites and corequisites, general education courses, nursing major content, and general degree requirements are necessary to ensure coordinated degree progression.

Public health policies to encourage healthy eating habits: recent perspectives.

There is an urgent need to address unhealthy dietary patterns at the population level. Poor diet and physical inactivity are key drivers of the obesity pandemic, and they are among the leading causes of preventable death and disability in nearly every country in the world. As countries grapple with the growing obesity prevalence, many innovative policy options to reduce overeating and improve diet quality remain largely unexplored.

Nursing Education Transformation: Promising Practices in Academic Progression.

Background: Health care has changed over the past decade; yet, nursing education has not kept pace with social and scientific advances. The Institute of Medicine report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, called for a more highly educated nursing work-force and an improved nursing education system. Since the release of that report, the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, AARP, and the AARP Foundation, has worked with nursing education leaders to better understand existing and evolving nursing education structures.

Implementation of Competitive Food and Beverage Standards in a Sample of Massachusetts Schools: The NOURISH Study (Nutrition Opportunities to Understand Reforms Involving Student Health).

Background: During 2012, Massachusetts adopted comprehensive school competitive food and beverage standards that closely align with Institute of Medicine recommendations and Smart Snacks in School national standards.

Objective: We examined the extent to which a sample of Massachusetts middle schools and high schools sold foods and beverages that were compliant with the state competitive food and beverage standards after the first year of implementation, and complied with four additional aspects of the regulations.

Design: Observational cohort study with data collected before implementation (Spring 2012) and 1 year after implementation (Spring 2013).

The Perspectives of Six Latino Heritage Groups About Their Health Care.

The Latino population in the US is projected to grow substantially in the years ahead. Although often referred to as a single group, Latinos are not homogeneous. This article, based mainly on a national telephone survey of 1,478 Latino adults, examines the perspectives of six Latino heritage groups on the health care issues they face.