Mississippi Office of Nursing Workforce (ONW); Mississippi Department of Employment Security (MDES)

Marcella McKay, RN, PhD, President/CEO of MHA-F

mmckay@mhanet.org, 601.368.3220

ONW Staff:

Wanda Jones, RN, MSN, Executive Director

wjones@monw.org 601-368-3321

Debbie Logan, RN, MHA, Project Director with ONW

dlogan@monw.org, 601.954.0757

Dawn Ard, Project Manager with ONW

dard@monw.org, 601.368.3321

Project Consultant:    

Brief Project Synopsis: 

The Mississippi Hospital Association Health, Research & Educational Foundation, Inc. (MHA-F) mission is to provide education on health-related subjects, recruit and retain qualified health professionals, improve Mississippi health-related educational programs, award scholarships/fellowships, promote research in healthcare fields, and awards grants/donations for charitable, scientific, and educational purposes. The Mississippi Office of Nursing Workforce (ONW) was created through the Mississippi Legislature in 1996 for the purpose of developing a nursing workforce able to carry out the scope of service and leadership tasks required of the profession by promoting a strong educational infrastructure between nursing practice and nursing education.  The Mississippi Legislature authorized the Mississippi Board of Nursing to create ONW, and further, the legislation provides for the contracting with an organization or entity for the purpose of administrative support. The Mississippi Board of Nursing has a longstanding contract with the Mississippi Hospital Association-Foundation (MHA-F) to act as that agent. 

The purpose of the Mississippi Critical Nursing Faculty Shortage Initiative (Initiative) is to address one of the root problems that contribute to the nursing shortage, the nursing faculty shortage.  The goal is to develop a multi-dimensional approach to increase and retain nursing faculty that more accurately reflect the ethnicity and gender of our population by the following objectives: 1) develop an innovative, accelerated educational path to a nursing faculty career; 2) develop an evidence-based image and recruitment campaign to showcase nursing education as a desirable career; 3) develop multiple adjunct faculty roles with formal relationships between education and service; and 4) improve education and clinical workplace cultures.  ONW is implementing the Initiative. 

Project Goals and Objectives:

The Mississippi Critical Nursing Faculty Shortage Initiative will provide tremendous value to the nursing community by increasing numbers of faculty through adjunct/hybrid roles and accelerated alternative educational paths.  The goal is to encourage clinical staff to continue their educational path by completing higher education degrees.  Service and education will provide opportunities and funds for registered nurses to return to school.   Also, education will develop flexible and online courses and service will provide opportunities for clinical staff with advanced degrees to function in adjunct clinical and/or classroom faculty roles for local schools of nursing. 

The image campaign will improve the perception of the faculty role and enhance recruitment efforts.

The project will be successful in creating meaning and sustainable change by developing a multi-dimensional model that will be evidence-based, piloted, and replicable in small regions across the state.  Service and education will partner to develop strategies to encourage nurses to embrace the role of educator.  Sufficient numbers in the educator role are vital to addressing the nursing shortages.