A community-wide academic-service partnership to expand faculty and student capacity

Abstract

This article describes a unique academic-service community collaborative aimed at increasing student and faculty capacity. The state hospital association held a series of community-wide meetings with health care organization and academic leaders to discuss the growing RN and faculty shortages. Collectively, schools of nursing experienced a 70% increase in qualified applicants and could not admit all qualified applicants due to faculty constraints. A unique Workforce Collaborative Pilot Project was formed to address student and faculty capacity issues with three primary objectives: expand the pool of educators involved in preparing the next generation of nurses, increase nursing school enrollments by 335 additional nursing students each year in the metropolitan area for the next 5 years, and implement an innovative educational model that could be sustained or replicated. As a result, area schools of nursing have expanded enrollment by 1,046, and overall quality measurements and evaluative feedback remain positive.