Clips & Tips


Research, trends, tips Indiana Center for Nursing brings leaders together to work as one Forecasts about the future of nursing in


Indiana predict a large shortage, and nursing leaders are doing their best to prepare for it. Three organizations — Nursing 2000, Nursing


2000 North and the Indiana NursingWorkforce Development Coalition — have joined forces to create the Indiana Center for Nursing. The new nonprofit group brings together nursing leaders from hospitals and educational institutions to promote best practices. ICN’s executive director, Kimberly Harper,


Harper


MS, RN, said the center exists to strengthen the state’s nursing profession.Members include hospitals, long-term care facilities and nursing schools. The center’s board is made of chief nursing officers and nursing school deans. “This is a group of nurses and nursing executives


whose mission is to serve as the voice of nurses in Indiana,” Harper said. “The main goals of the organization are twofold. One is to ensure


an adequate, well-trained supply of nurses to serve the cities of Indiana. The second is to promote Indiana as a magnet state for nursing practice.”


Preparing for the future The three organizations that created ICN


had similar missions, and Harper said it became clear they could accomplish more by combining their efforts.While 35 states have centers for nursing, Indiana wasn’t among them, she said. “A variety of organizations within Indiana


were doing some of the functions that centers for nursing do in other states, but no one was doing all of them,” Harper said. The three founding organizations’ board


members decided to join forces and create ICN. Previously, different regions fell under different organizations. Now, INC covers the entire state. The center tracks nursing trends by analyzing


work force data. It uses this information to forecast when there will be a need for more


nurses. This helps member organizations — educational institutions that train nurses and the facilities that hire them — to prepare for the future. “There’s a concern that we could be looking


at a very serious nursing shortage in the near future,” Harper said. “It will be coming at a time when we actually need more nurses because of health care reform.We want to be prepared.” To encourage more interest in registered


nursing careers, INC provides scholarships for Indiana nursing students. It also maintains a database of information about Indiana’s schools so students can compare accredited programs. That information, with the work-force trend data is accessible at www.ic4n.org. Harper said ICN also is striving to create the best working environment for Indiana’s nurses. The organization also belongs to the Indiana Action Coalition’s transforming healthcare committe, which implements recommendations of the National Institute of Medicine Report on the Future of Nursing.


— By Brooke Baker


6 Indiana Nursing Quarterly • indystar.com/nursing • Fall 2011


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