Community Health Network Foundation 1500 E Ritter Ave Indianapolis, IN 46219 Project Director: Jean Putnam Voice 317.621.5328 Fax 317.621.4490 JPutnam@eCommunity.com Funds requested: $1,046,400 Funding preference, priority: Substantially benefits underserved populations, Public entity Project: Community Health Network (CHNw) will leverage its partnership with academic collaborator Ivy Tech Community College to increase number and diversity of nursing graduates. Who: Target populations are nursing students and workforce. Administrative leaders of CHNw Nursing and Ivy Tech’s School of Nursing, and nursing and faculty workforces, will execute project activities. What: Classroom education and clinical training for students will elevate exposure to and learning about social determinants of health (SDOH), culturally sensitive care, and health disparities, to improve health outcomes, literacy and equity, especially for the medically underserved. When: September 30, 2022 – September 29, 2025. Where: Academic sites are the Ivy Tech campuses in Indianapolis, Hamilton County, Anderson, and Kokomo. Clinical sites are Community Hospitals Anderson, East, North, South, and Howard Regional Health, and other sites of care. Why: Though it is the largest component of the healthcare workforce, nursing diversity has lagged and does not reflect the populations served, causing health inequities, inadequate consumer experiences, and culturally incompetent environments. Indiana schools of nursing are no exception, yet they are “the front door to the nursing profession. Racial, structural, and institutional inequities that are embedded in nursing programs and schools have the most profound impact on the profession because of the expanded reach they have into the future of students who progress and those who fail, the nursing workforce, future nurse educators (NEs), and the health and well-being of our nation.” How: Clinical and academic partners will deliver
accredited didactic education and experiential, clinical training in acute care settings. Needs addressed: The project addresses the capacity of students to practice in acute settings, provides didactic and experiential learning opportunities to grow nursing skills and delivery of culturally sensitive care, and addresses SDOH and health equity. It improves leadership, communication, and critical thinking skills in technologically innovative and collaborative practice environments. It provides remedies for health inequities, supports underserved populations, and increases workforce diversity. Proposed services: The project will deliver innovative training models to expand workforce and prepare students for interprofessional team care. It will strive to meet complex needs for SDOH and culturally sensitive care for at-risk populations. It will enhance the academic/practice partnership to improve curricula and student readiness to practice. The program will increase the diversity of the workforce. Measurable objectives: The project will measure student capacity of to address complex care needs. It will measure and assess learning opportunities to improve health outcomes, equity, and access for medically underserved populations. It will measure increased diversity of the acute care workforce serving underserved communities on interprofessional care teams. It will measure revision to nursing curricula and experiential learning opportunities to provide concept-rich environments designed to improve SDOH, culturally competent care, and health equity. It will measure student critical thinking and communication skills. Clinical priorities: Practice priority, Retention priority, Other priority linkage: Health Equity