 THE NURSE TO NURSE PROJECT The California Nurses Foundation (CNF) has received one of numerous grants being awarded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to address nursing workforce issues in five San Francisco Bay Area counties. The Nurse to Nurse Project has been awarded a two-year grant to support a collaborative initiative with three to five hospitals in the Bay Area to improve the quality of patient care and patient care outcomes by enhancing the quality, skill, professionalism,and job satisfaction of hospital-based registered nurses. The Nurse to Nurse Project will develop a series of interventions that will not only improve the quality of local nursing care, but will result in nationally relevant and replicablemodels for effective, intensive support for newly-entering and transitioning hospital nurses. The project will utilize two distinct but integrated components to improve both the quality and impact of nursing care - a model nurse preceptor training and support program and anurse mentor demonstration program. The preceptor preparation course consists of a series of modules which can be used in their entirety or selectively arranged to meet the supplementation needs of the individual facility's learning environment. Inherent in the modules are concepts which will address the novice to expert continuum, clinical expertise, patient advocacy, ethics, cultural awareness and adult learning. The mentor education program pairs specially prepared experienced RNs with new grads,RNs re-entering the workforce and nurses transitioning from other specialties for professional and personal support. CNF staff will work closely with the individual nurses, educators and managers to develop an optimally supportive environment.
THE CALIFORNIA NURSE MENTOR PROJECT
A FOCUS ON THE RETENTION OF REGISTERED NURSES
The California Nurses Foundation, in close collaboration with the statewide network of medical centers operated by Catholic Healthcare West, has begun the implementation of the California Nurse Mentor Project. This project, funded by the California Endowment, is an innovative, three-year demonstration program whose goal is to cost-effectively improve the quality, sensitivity, and effectiveness of patient care in California through enhanced retention of nurses, with a special emphasis on multicultural, multilingual, and male nurses. The California Nurse Mentor Project will explore the impact of pairing experienced nurses with newly graduated nurses, registered nurses (RNs) who are re-entering the workforce, RNs who have completed cross-training, and front-line managers with trained and experienced nurse mentors who, wherever possible, reflect the cultural, linguistic, and gender backgrounds of the nurses they support. The program will assess the extent to which the presence of supportive nurse mentors leads to improved outcomes in areas such as retention of nursing staff, increased professional confidence, and enhanced job satisfaction when compared to nurse populations who do not receive mentor support. The project will result in a replicable model intervention that can effectively address the critical shortage and long-term retention of qualified nurses in hospitals throughout California and the nation. Cultural Diversity In Nursing
The California Nurses Foundation has received a $25,000 grant from the San Francisco Foundation to develop and test a new model cultural diversity program to be presented to clinical staff registered nurses and other healthcare professionals working in hospital and healthcare settings in the Bay Area and throughout Califorina. It is important for clinical staff to begin to understand the dynamics of nurse-patient encounters. At any given time three (3) distinct cultural systems are at play: the culture of the clinical staff member, the patient, and the healthcare environment. In addition, building awareness in the area of cultural competency is key to alleviating tensions, misunderstandings and frustrations that arise among diverse populations of clinical staff as they work together in this multicultural healthcare environment within the United States. The Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN) RNRN is a national network of direct-care RNs — powered by the California Nurses Foundation in conjunction with the California Nurses Association and the National Nurses Organizing Committee — that coordinates sending volunteer RNs to disaster stricken areas where and when they are needed most. RNRN was organized in 2005 when Katrina and Rita — two of the most destructive hurricanes in history — dramatically exposed America’s flawed disaster relief system. RNRN volunteers went to the devastated Gulf Coast to help provide care for the hundreds of thousands of people abandoned and without food, water, shelter, medical aid, nursing care, or even a basic evacuation plan. We can never let this happen again.
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