Academy for Advanced Nursing Workforce Solutions

St. James Healthcare Foundation

St. James Healthcare Foundation, St. James Healthcare, Montana Tech of the University of Montana, Montana Tech School of Nursing, National Center for Health Care Informatics

Pat Dudley, Project Director

pdudley@mtech.edu, 406.496.4820

Karen VanDaveer, Curriculum Director

kvandaveer@mtech.edu, 406.496.3726

Ray Rogers, Technology Director

rrogers@mtech.edu, 406.496.4821

Kevin Dennehy, Executive Director, St. James Healthcare Foundation

Brief Project Synopsis: 

In a national environment where the demand for healthcare services will continue to increase dramatically as the baby-boomer generation ages, the ability to provide an adequate supply of nursing professionals will continue to be a daunting challenge. This challenge is made even more extreme by the fact that the current depth and breath of our the existing labor pool was made possible when the large numbers of Baby Boomers first entered the workforce and substantial numbers of women entered the workforce.

New hires face an extremely difficult transition that often threatens their continued employment and may even ultimately threaten their commitment to a given profession. Given the unique nature of recruiting in healthcare, it is extremely important that once our efforts to attract individuals into the nursing profession has been accomplished, and once they have been successfully trained in the technical skills of the profession, that we not allow a negative experience during their first months of employment threaten this commitment. Currently, the existing higher education programs are, for the most part, doing a good job of preparing graduates with the necessary technical skills. However, as is pointed out in a recent article in the American Society for Training and Development Journal, almost half of all newly hired employees will fail within 18 months of employment. According to the article, lack of technical skills was less to blame for employee’s failure than poor interpersonal skills. Individuals are being prepared technically for the working world of today, but they are not being prepared adequately in the realm of what we refer to as “success skills”.

Success skills are defined as those skills that are not typically taught in traditional nursing education programs but yet are quite critical to developing a highly motivated, well trained, and professional nursing workforce.  These are also “survival skills” which, once developed, can assist nurses through difficult professional challenges that may otherwise result in nursing attrition.  Nurses in the Academy will be given a Toolbox of success skills that can be used every day in the regular performance of their jobs or can be called upon when the need arises.

The intent of the Academy for Advanced Nursing Workforce Solutions is to focus on developing critical success skills in the nursing workforce.  Initially, nursing students will be targeted through this innovative program, but the intent is to also expand the application to practicing nurses. The Academy is a 10 week program that will be conducted every June-August and will be hosted on the campus of Montana Tech. Initially, the Academy has been implemented for nursing students between their junior and senior year of a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program or freshman and sophomore year in an Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN) program.

Project Goals and Objectives:

The initial goal of the Academy is to pilot a program to 32 nursing students during the summer months of 2007 and 2008 that will provide a “Toolbox of Success Skills” to these students that will assist them in dealing with difficult professional (and personal) challenges that they may initially encounter as they enter the nursing profession and as they continue throughout their careers. Additionally, it is the intent of the Academy to eventually expand this program beyond the scope of student nurses to encompass practicing nurses as well as other healthcare professionals.