A Mentoring Initiative for Students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities: One Strategy to Increase Nursing Workforce Diversity and Advance Health Equity.

This article addresses low retention and graduation rates among historically marginalized students in nursing programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Mentoring is a proven success strategy to support systems for historically marginalized students, helping them navigate challenges, improving academic outcomes, and increasing the diversity of the nursing workforce. The article highlights the mentoring initiative of AARP's Center for Health Equity through Nursing and the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the outcomes of this collaboration.

Caring for a Person Living with Pain.

Nurses play a key role in supporting family caregivers.

When Family Caregivers Meet Health Care Institutions.

Nurses have the opportunity to make a difference for caregivers.

An Innovative Approach to Advancing Academic Success for Underrepresented Nursing Students Using the Collective Impact Model.

This article describes the application of the Collective Impact Model as an innovative conceptual framework for developing a pedagogical process for advancing academic success and retention for underrepresented nursing students. A more diverse nursing workforce is critical to promoting health equity and supporting a culture of health by providing access to culturally and linguistically appropriate care. By strategically applying this framework to a complex issue in nursing education, we discuss a process that may lead to increased academic success and NCLEX®RN pass rates for underrepresented students.

Family Caregivers Are Members of Our Team.

Nurses play a critical role in providing support.

Winning strategies for full access to care.

The Center to Champion Nursing in America and the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action envision everyone in America can live a healthier life, supported by nurses as essential partners in providing care and promoting health equity and well-being. This column describes the history of partnerships created in support of these efforts and strategies learned through grassroots efforts. The discussion offers an example of how one person's experiences and education led her to positions in support of actions designed to promote healthier life by all and practical strategies everyone can use in support of the goal of promoting care, health equity, and well-being for all Americans.

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.

Nurses Supporting Family Caregivers.

Caregivers need more guidance from nurses to perform increasingly complex tasks.

Nurses Supporting Family Caregivers.

Caregivers need more guidance from nurses to perform increasingly complex tasks.

Partners in solutions to the nurse faculty shortage.

The looming shortage of nurses, and the faculty to educate them, threatens Americans' access to quality health care across all settings. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Foundation, and the AARP are joining together to raise the level of awareness of this crisis and solutions to resolve it in a sustained way. These leaders in health and social change created the Center to Champion Nursing in America (the Center) to ensure that Americans have the highly skilled nurses needed to provide affordable, quality health care now and in a reformed health care system.

Partners in solutions to the nurse faculty shortage.

The looming shortage of nurses and the faculty to educate them threatens Americans' access to quality health care across all settings. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Foundation, and AARP are joining together to raise the level of awareness of this crisis and solutions to resolve it in a sustained way. These leaders in health and social change created the Center to Champion Nursing in America (the Center) to ensure Americans have the highly skilled nurses we need to provide affordable, quality health care now and in a reformed health care system.

Expanding the capacity of nursing education.

Assuring a nurse workforce that is large enough and possesses the right competencies for the changing demographic and health reform scenarios of the early twenty-first century is nothing short of an imperative. Getting there will involve continual recruitment of a talented and diverse group of people and increasing nurses' progression to a more highly educated workforce, no matter where they enter the profession. These actions will enable the United States to fill vacant nursing faculty positions as we simultaneously re-create how nursing education is delivered in this country.

The nursing workforce in long-term care.

Nurses play an essential role in long-term care (LTC). They can and should do more to create the kind of services and supports that people seek for themselves and for their families. To provide this crucial leadership, nurses must understand and advocate the array of services and programs that fall within the term "LTC," including, but not limited to, "nursing home care.