Skip to main content

Nursing Groups Partner to Address Nursing Workforce Issues

Analysis  |  By Jennifer Thew RN  
   June 15, 2018

AACN and AONE join forces to advance new care models and improve nursing workforce readiness.

Nurse leaders have several concerns regarding the nursing workforce. First off, will there be an adequate supply of RNs to care for those in need of healthcare? Second, will these nurses have the education, skills, and training to function in an evolving, value-based environment?

To address these issues, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the American Organization of Nurse Executives have formed a new national strategy to strengthen alignment between practice and academia. The goal of the collaboration is to advance innovative solutions to meet the demands of the current and future healthcare system.

As part of its mission, the newly formed AACN-AONE Advisory Committee will “co-create models of care, workforce readiness, and a lifelong continuum of learning to optimize the impact of nursing on health and wellness.” 

“AACN and AONE have made the commitment to speaking in one voice on the need to work together to create new models of care and nursing education that support a highly educated nursing workforce,” says committee co-chair Judy Beal, in a news release. “We acknowledge the urgency with which we must as partners address serious workforce issues that have an impact on the health and wellness of not only the nation but also our nurses. While the AACN and AONE have been partnering since 2013 on the development of guiding principles and a toolkit for leaders to enhance academic-practice partnerships, the AACN 2016 report, "Advancing Healthcare Transformation—A New Era for Academic Nursing," has created new momentum for action"

At its May meeting in Washington, D.C., the committee outlined two strategic priorities:

  1. Develop and implement a campaign for nursing leaders from academia and practice to influence appropriate leaders that they must partner to address expected workforce shortages through models of care and models of learning
     
  2. Encourage and facilitate academic and practice leaders to identify opportunities and challenges to forging effective partnerships
     

“The public trusts that an expert nurse will care for them in their time of need. We have the responsibility to live up to that trust,” said committee co-chair Deborah Zimmerman. “It is time for us to change traditional paradigms and ensure synergy between the needs of the population, sufficient nurses across the continuum, and that models of care impacting health align."

The new AACN-AONE Advisory Committee will advance previous collaborative work, which centered on developing exemplar academic-practice partnerships, by the two nursing organizations.

For more information on this initiative, including guiding principles for developing strong collaborations, see AACN's Academic-Practice Partnership web page.

Jennifer Thew, RN, is the senior nursing editor at HealthLeaders.


Get the latest on healthcare leadership in your inbox.