NJNI Welcomes New Scholars

A small and very promising cadre of America’s future leaders in academic nursing have a few things in common: they are enrolled in rigorous nursing programs that teach them about cutting edge information in the field, they have supportive mentors who are dedicated to guiding them as they pursue advanced degrees, and they go to school in New Jersey.

 

At the end of October, the New Jersey Nursing Initiative (NJNI), a program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Foundation, welcomed the next generation of nurse faculty at its second annual meeting, “Nursing Leadership: Education, Practice and Policy,” in Princeton.

 

“You are our future leaders,” NJNI Program Director Susan Bakewell-Sachs, Ph.D., R.N., P.N.P.-B.C., told the Scholars. “We are going to be counting on you to be using your voices, to be leading change.”

 

NJNI is working to ensure that New Jersey has the well prepared, diverse nurse faculty needed to educate nurses to meet the demand for health and health care in the 21^st century. The program is providing $13.5 million over the next five years to New Jersey’s master’s and doctoral level nursing programs and collaboratives, and will produce at least 46 new nurse faculty.

 

“You don’t know how exciting it is for me to see all of you here,” former New Jersey Governor and Chairman of the RWJF Board of Trustees Thomas Kean told the scholars at the meeting. “You are the future. What you do with your degrees will be wonderful for nursing.”

 

NJNI’s second and final cohort includes 20 scholars who are pursuing master’s degrees from New Jersey nursing programs and collaboratives. They join the first class of 29 scholars in masters’ and doctoral programs as they prepare to become nurse faculty.

 

“I feel as though now I’m becoming part of the bigger picture and I have an opportunity to give back to the profession,” said Marlin Gross, B.S.N., R.N., a member of the second cohort who is pursuing a master’s degree in nursing at Richard Stockton College. “Being a part of this is phenomenal.”

 

The meeting gave the new scholars the chance to meet their peers, network with mentors and faculty, and hear from renowned experts in nursing and health care.

 

Second cohort scholar Grace Qarmout, B.S.N., R.N., who is pursuing a master’s degree in nursing at Fairleigh Dickinson University, appreciated the opportunity to get to know her fellow scholars and faculty at other nursing schools over the course of the three-day meeting. “It made the program more exciting to see the collaborative that we have here and to know the other people that I’m working with,” she said.

 

Each scholar has received a scholarship covering tuition and fees, and a $50,000 per year stipend to cover living expenses for the two to four years spent as full-time students. Scholars also receive mentoring from nursing leaders from across the country who help them complete their graduate or doctoral studies. Upon graduation, scholars have the opportunity to receive financial incentives if they become faculty members at schools of nursing in the state.

 

Being a part of the program “is an honor and a huge stepping stone… in getting to the faculty role,” said Ruta Brazaitis, B.S.N., R.N., a member of the second cohort who is pursuing a master’s degree in nursing at William Paterson University. “Now I have the assistance I need to do that.”

 

A career is an evolution, Angela Barron McBride, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., told the group in her keynote address. McBride is the chair of the National Advisory Committee of the RWJF Nurse Faculty Scholars program and distinguished professor and university dean emerita at Indiana University School of Nursing. She recently published a book on nursing careers, leadership and optimism, The Growth and Development of Nurse Leaders.

 

“A career means you are not doing, in every decade, the same thing. You keep evolving,” she said. McBride provided an overview of an academic career – from initial preparation to the final stage of “gadfly or wise person” – and the key transitions between the stages.

 

Mentoring, she said, comes at every stage of a career in academic nursing. “You incur the obligation to nurture subsequent generations and to shape the future. You have the obligation to nurture and mentor even if you’re a curmudgeon.”

 

She encouraged the scholars to honestly analyze their strengths and weaknesses, and to make friends with people who have skills different from their own.

 

“Other people cannot keep you optimistic; you have to manage yourself,” McBride said. Failure is expected, but you should admit your mistakes and move on. “I can’t tell the difference between failure and life experience anymore.”

 

“I wish each one of you a happy career,” she said in closing.

 

The meeting featured several breakout sessions designed to give scholars a more intimate look at their future as nurse faculty and at emerging trends in the field. Topics included aligning practice with education, quality and safety, negotiating a clinical role, and establishing a dedicated education unit.

 

Scholars in NJNI’s first cohort, who are each in their second year pursuing a master’s or doctoral program, had lively discussions with mentors about their futures. They received candid advice on tenure tracks, research and publication, and transitioning from students to faculty.

 

“I think some of the best moments have been the mentorship and the ability to work closely with faculty,” said Andrew Fruhschien, B.S.N., R.N., N.J.E.M.T.B., a scholar from the first cohort who is pursuing a master’s degree in nursing at Fairleigh Dickinson University. “I think that’s been really important in learning to become an educator when I come out of this program.”

 

Robert Scoloveno, M.S., R.N., a first cohort Scholar pursuing a doctoral degree in nursing at Rutgers, said the meeting left him feeling “reinvigorated.” To hear from experts in the field and learn how to become a better educator “makes me feel like there’s great potential not only as a nurse but as a nurse educator,” he said.

 

The meeting came just weeks after the Institute of Medicine, in collaboration with RWJF, released its groundbreaking report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. The report is the result of a two-year initiative to assess the nursing profession and make recommendations to transform it. The report recommends that nurses play an increased leadership role in our health care system.

 

Susan B. Hassmiller, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., RWJF’s senior advisor for nursing, briefed the scholars on the recommendations. “This report was written for you. It really is an opportunity for nurses to lead the transformation of our system,” she said. “You are part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ambassador team. Reach out and educate policy-makers and others on the report’s findings.”

 

Hassmiller encouraged the scholars and their mentors to host “watch parties” for the report’s launch summit, which was broadcast online from Washington D.C. Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.

 

Laurie Cancialosi, legislative director for New Jersey Senator Joseph Vitale, agreed that nurses should be full partners with other health care professionals. “I think putting nurses into leadership positions is important,” she said after the briefing. “Every component [of the health care system] needs to have an equal seat at the table for appropriate medical care and patient care. Nurses need to be at the table for every decision.”

 

Ellen-Marie Whelan, Ph.D., R.N., a senior policy analyst at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, briefed the scholars on the health reform law and its implications for nursing. Whelan is an alumna of the RWJF Health Policy Fellows program (2003-2004), where she spent a year working in the office of then-Senator Tom Daschle (D-S.D.).

 

The scholars also heard from panels that challenged them to take an active role in public policy. They were encouraged to get involved in their communities and to talk to diverse audiences about nursing issues and improving patient care.

 

“This has given me so much to think about,” said Maryann Magloire-Wilson, B.A., R.N., a member of the first cohort is pursuing a master’s degree in nursing at The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. “I never really thought of myself in that regard, in policy, in government… I feel like I can do more than I probably thought that I could… because if they think that we can, then we can.”

 

“Each of us is a leader. We’re not to wait for someone else to lead,” Bakewell-Sachs said at the close of the meeting. “I’m newly inspired to step up again... This is a rare opportunity in time. This is a momentous opportunity in time, and aren’t we lucky to be here.”