Chamberlain University, which has the largest nursing school in the U.S., is pleased to announce its Practice-Ready, Specialty-Focused™ Nurse Education Model pilot program is the recipient of a $1.2 million grant from the American Nurses Foundation’s Reimagining Nursing Initiative (RN Initiative), which is funding bold ideas developed and led by nurses to transform nursing for improved health access, care and outcomes for all.
Only 10 grants were awarded, and Chamberlain is amongst other premier nursing institutions to receive a grant. As the nation faces a nursing shortage, Chamberlain University’s initiative is focused on decreasing first-year nursing turnover by exposing them to clinical rotations in perioperative nursing practice.
“We are honored our Practice-Ready, Specialty-Focused™ program was recognized by the American Nurses Foundation, and we want to thank them for their support, which will help Chamberlain further pave the way for the future healthcare workforce,” said Karen Cox, PhD, RN, FACHE, FAAN, president, Chamberlain University. “Nurses are needed now more than ever, and this pilot program not only enhances students’ generalist foundation, it provides them exposure to a specialty area, preparing them for their first area of practice to contribute to a variety of settings, such as perioperative services.”
Chamberlain’s pilot program hopes to demonstrate that nurses will enter into their careers more practice-ready when they (1) have the opportunity to assess the best “fit” for their initial area of practice and (2) receive specialty focused training and clinical experience in that area of practice.
The program is being piloted at five Chamberlain campuses with three clinical partners — Loyola Medicine, based in the suburbs of Chicago; Ochsner Health, located in the New Orleans area and serving the Gulf South; and Emory Healthcare in the Atlanta metropolitan region — in collaboration with the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN), creators of evidence-based guidelines and education resources for perioperative practice.
Interested students enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program at Chamberlain may enroll in at 16-week, online didactic Introduction to Perioperative Nursing (IPN) course being offered at no additional cost. Following successful completion of the IPN course, students will participate in an eight-week perioperative clinical experience.
“With our focus on perioperative practice, we are delighted Chamberlain was awarded this grant for their Practice-Ready, Specialty-Focused™ pilot,” said AORN CEO/Executive Director Linda Groah, MSN, RN, CNOR, NEA-BC, FAAN. “We believe strongly in Chamberlain’s pilot to create a successful pathway for nursing students to experience and then commit to perioperative practice for their professional career. This model is an important solution for the recruitment challenges that are facing all facilities that provide surgical services.”
Chamberlain will replicate the model for home healthcare during the pilot period. The program will be evaluated after the pilot concludes in 2025, and Chamberlain will create a publicly available playbook documenting the model that will be shared with other schools of nursing to enable them to replicate the approach.
“The Reimagining Nursing Initiative provides the solid investments nurses need to transform the education, regulation and practice of nursing,” says American Nurses Foundation Executive Director Kate Judge. “Nurses are a natural catalytic force for accelerating the evolution of our health system because they have an unmatched perspective on prevention, wellness and delivery of healthcare services.”
The Reimagining Nursing Initiative is made possible through the generous support of the Kaiser Permanente National Community Benefit Fund at East Bay Community Foundation, AMN Healthcare, Omnicell, and the Salka Impact Fund.
For more information about the RN Initiative and to explore each pilot program, visit: https://www.nursingworld.org/rninitiative.
