Project Accomplishments:
Louisiana looked at leadership and diversity, developing a nurse leadership training that has nearly 80 participants as of spring 2017. The training included a mentorship program with guidance on professional development and leadership. The training also evaluated board membership interests and fostered links to the Nurses on Boards initiative.
This project included extensive efforts to enhance diversity in the nursing workforce. A diversity steering committee brought together 80 leaders from across the state to discuss barriers that keep minorities and men from entering the field. These findings were the basis of a report that offered strategies to increase diversity by overcoming these barriers.Louisiana also proposed a way to track attrition and graduation rates for minority and male students in pre-RN and APRN programs—populations that had not been tracked closely. The proposed tracking system includes collaboration among several state entities, including the Louisiana Center for Nursing and state board of nursing.
The team offered micro-grants to regional groups that take steps to expand diversity, including outreach to minority students in middle and high school to increase their interest in the profession. Louisiana provided financial support to registered nurses enrolled in nurse practitioner programs who planned to work in underserved communities.