Illinois Hospital Association

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Northwest Illinois Nursing Collaborative (NINC)

Recognizing that the magnitude of a growing nursing shortage in northwest Illinois was beyond the ability of any one healthcare organization to effectively address, groundwork for the development of the Northwest Illinois Nursing Collaborative (NINC) began in June 2005, with five-year collaborative agreements signed in January 2006. NINC’s mission was to collectively seek innovative solutions and implement procedures and processes that would help increase the capacity and quality of nursing graduates in Northwest Illinois. They were committed to long-term support of regional educational facilities and to the overall improvement of patient care in the region. Members of the collaborative include: FHN in Freeport; Swedish American, Rockford Memorial, St. Anthony’s in Rockford; CGH in Sterling; Rochelle Community Hospital in Rochelle; and KSB in Dixon.

The program/project/initiative incorporated new and innovative design elements as a means of addressing a particular workforce/economic development need.

The NINC was born out of the CSSI process. Healthcare organizations found themselves at an impasse with the educational community, which was not able to respond quickly as the business sector needed. The formation of the collaborative enabled healthcare providers to come together to think out of the box and explore solutions which they could bring back to the CSSI table. Together the collaborative formed teams with a representative from each healthcare provider to address individual problems. The following resulted elements were incorporated regionally from their work:

1. To improve clinical experiences and communications for students, faculty, and staff, a clinical coordinator was named at each hospital to work directly with the colleges.

2. There were ample students interested in pursuing nursing careers, but few slots available at local community colleges. The healthcare providers were drivers in the introduction of distance learning as an alternative with its introduction of Rio Salado’s online ADN program. While NINC still awaits State Nursing Board approval for this program, several NINC partners participated in a Northern Stateline EDR distance learning pilot with Chamberlain. Seeing an opportunity for area colleges, Kishwaukee College, with the financial support of NINC, announced the formation of NION (Northwest Illinois Online Nursing), an online local nursing program that is in the final developmental stages. NION is currently housed at Sauk Valley Community College. The collaborative has pledged $154,500 over the next three years to get this project off the ground. Clinicals would be held at the participating healthcare providers.

3. A combined online spreadsheet for all area healthcare providers was developed to help manage the clinical process. The spreadsheet showed availability by facility and specialties, thereby enhancing the capacity and variety of locations for clinical experience. It provided a business model for the education community.

4. To enrich the clinical experience, NINC developed and approved several standardization methods, including: (a) Implementation of a standardized nursing orientation program for all students, eliminating the need for students and facility to spend valuable time in repetitive orientation programs. (b) Standardized student request and experience forms for use by all hospitals.

5. NINC is currently funding the development of a joint marketing campaign, which includes a website, national recruiting, and marketing materials. This type of joint campaign does not feature specific facilities and has been used by only one other region in the country (in East Tennessee). Individual healthcare providers do not offer all the same specialty service opportunities to attract quality applicants, but by working together they now have a system in place to share knowledge and resources.

6. The collaboration, even though competitors, is sharing training and guideline information, such as successful scholarship programs to develop more MSN staff for clinical experience instructors, plus additional incumbent training programs.

Successful implementation of the program/project/initiative required the formation of partnerships within the community or region.

NCIC crosses over the boundaries of four local workforce areas (LWIA 4, 3, 12), four economic development regions, and over nine counties. Members of NINC have set aside their competitive instinct and banded together for the good of the entire region. Their results have not only enhanced local critical skills shortage initiative (CSSI) efforts, but also resulted in invaluable partnerships with local educational organizations and area workforce investment boards, in addition to improved patient care, clinical experiences, and career awareness within our region.

With healthcare providers working as a collaborative, they were able to return to the CSSI table with substantial additional funding and a strong commitment of support to assist educators in making program changes, which included the addition of evening courses, additional instructors, and expanded clinical slots. Where just two years ago tensions between educators and business-sector members of the Northern Stateline EDR’s CSSI healthcare initiative were strained, today, the businesses and educators continue to meet monthly and make inroads into solving healthcare shortages.

The innovative approach resulted in positive outcomes and successfully addressed a workforce/economic development need.

We have seen an increase of 36 additional students entering the ADN program in the Northern Stateline EDR alone; employer funded scholarships have increased the number of incumbent nurses working toward MSN degrees, with a stipulation that they give four years back to serve as clinical instructors; the NINC were drivers and financial partners behind the development of a local online ADN program which is shared equally by regional colleges; business models have been standardized and introduced throughout the collaborative to improve the educational experience and patient care quality. The business sector and educators now are working together to a common goal to increase capacity. A further partnership has been established with Northern Illinois University by some partners to return local students to the community for their clinical experience. Finally, working collaboratively, NINC partners knew they could expand their marketability on a national basis by joining resources. The impetus is now in place for ongoing collaborative projects, as well as the drive for individual institutions to do more on their own.