2004-Present | 2002-2003 | 2000-2001

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation issued a request for proposals in the fall of 1995 for a new initiative, the Colleagues in Caring: Regional Collaboratives for Nursing Work Force Development (CIC) project. Drs. Patricia L. Smith and Nancy B. Moody submitted a proposal on behalf of East Tennessee State University and the Tennessee Department of Health. During the application period, matching contributions were pledged by individuals and organizations from across the state of Tennessee including cash totaling $92,957 and in-kind contributions totaling $251,981. Tennessee was selected to be one of the finalists out of over 65 proposals received. Following defense of their proposal by Smith, Moody and Ann P. Duncan, Deputy Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health, notification of funding in the amount of $199,891 was received in June, 1996. The grand total of funding from the RWJF and from private contributors for the project over the three-year period, June 1, 1996 through December 31, 1999, was $554,829.

CIC was one of approximately 50 national programs funded by the RWJF. The purpose of this initiative was to enhance regional and state collaboration and planning, and to recommend actions to address issues and changes occurring in the United States in the nursing labor market. Tennessee was one of twenty project sites initially funded by the RWJF nationwide. In the initial phase of funding, 16 were statewide, three were regional, and one included the District of Columbia.

The Tennessee initiative was conducted throughout the state by the project co-directors, and a project staff composed of three Divisional Directors of Assessment and Planning from the TDH, three Regional Educational Coordinators, and three ex-officio representatives from the TDH. While numerous educational institutions were represented on the THCN, the Regional Educational Coordinators on the project staff were from institutions of higher education regionally positioned in one of the three grand divisions of the state that committed in-kind donations and support for the grant – The University of Tennessee, Memphis (west), Vanderbilt University (middle), and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (east). The office was housed in the College of Nursing at East Tennessee State University.

The overarching goal of the THCN was to develop a mechanism to guide the ongoing development of a nursing work force appropriately educated, geographically distributed, and with the capacity to adapt to change and meet the health care needs of the residents of Tennessee. This goal was accomplished by 1) establishing a statewide consortium composed of health care educators, providers, policy makers, consumers, and representatives of professional organization; 2) completing nursing work force analyses; 3) proposing recommendations for nursing educational and practice reforms; 4) developing an ongoing system to address future health care needs; and 5) disseminating findings and recommendations.

The first meeting of THCN was conducted in October 1996 in Murfreesboro, TN. Many of the subsequent meetings were held at parks throughout the state of Tennessee. In the initial meetings, organizational structure, membership, values, mission, goals, by-laws, and development of task forces to accomplish the goals of the project were established.

Each of six task forces was developed to:

During the three-year period, there were numerous local, regional, state, and national presentations and publications. THCN published three newsletters, established a website, and met biannually.

The data that were collected were used to formulate recommendations that:

The Tennessee Nurses Association passed a resolution that was eventually adopted that the Tennessee Board of Nursing be charged to regularly compile and disseminate data to accurately describe the state’s nursing work force. THCN has routinely analyzed the available data and made recommendations to the Board of Nursing to refine the data collection instrument used to capture data from schools of nursing on graduation and enrollment. THCN adopted the Tennessee Competency Model following a rigorous analysis of surveys to schools of nursing throughout the state from vocational through doctoral nursing education. The Model does not reflect doctoral competencies because of the level of disagreement among the three programs in the state on program outcomes.

Plans to collect data on articulation from LPN to RN or BSN to RN began. The Tennessee Department of Health began collecting and publishing mental health data. There was also increased discussion about how to access TennCare GME funds and the Executive Director was asked to serve on the Demand Assessment Advisory Committee which was funded by GME monies. Representatives from THCN examined forecasting models to determine which to use to forecast the demand for nurses in Tennessee. Information about all THCN activities were sent out via e-mail, FAX, and newsletters.