Special to the Recorder
The Sigma Theta Tau International Foundation for Nursing has received a $300,000 grant from the Elsevier Foundation to fund the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) Nurse Faculty Leadership Academy (NFLA).
This 18-month leadership program, a strategy to help alleviate the nursing faculty shortage, focuses on helping retain and transition new nurse educators to the faculty role.
The 2011-13 mentored leadership academy will build on the success of the current program, funded by the Elsevier Foundation, and will support recommendations contained in the 2010 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health.”
The IOM report specifically calls for “health organizations, including nursing organizations and nursing schools, to provide nurses greater opportunities to gain leadership skills and put them into practice.”
“At no time has it been so important to develop leaders in nursing education. NFLA will allow emerging leaders to work on projects with experienced mentors, transforming nursing education to better prepare nurses to meet the health care needs of their future patients,” said Diane M. Billings, Ed.D., RN, FAAN, chancellor’s professor emeritus at the Indiana University School of Nursing and NFLA mentor.
“The purpose of this academy is to develop the next generation of nurse faculty so that they can lead the development and implementation of innovative nursing education programs. Working closely with a mentor, participants develop essential leadership skills and learn how to incorporate emerging teaching methodologies such as simulation and other technologies into the nursing curriculum,” said Karen H. Morin, DSN, RN, ANEF, STTI president. “We look forward to working with nurse faculty from institutions around the world; up to 40 different schools of nursing could be involved in this next cohort.”
Simulation gives students nearly real-world experience in a controlled environment resulting in fewer errors and increased patient safety and provides school administrators the option to adjust faculty-student ratios. Incorporating the use of simulation technology in nursing education into the 2011-2013 NFLA curricula will help position new faculty members to become advocates for simulation within the schools at which they teach.
“We are proud to help STTI develop this program in ways that are highly relevant and innovative in advancing the effectiveness of nurse educators,” said David Ruth, executive director for the Elsevier Foundation.
