II. Engagement

AD and BSN leaders have formally met to discuss strategic planning for community, regional or statewide education, which may include all or some of the following:

• Stakeholders have reviewed IOM recommendations related to a more highly educated nursing workforce
• Evidence linking patient outcomes with nursing education have been reviewed and discussed
• Partnership models of academic progression have been shared or discussed

Barriers to academic progression have been discussed but not fully addressed, which may include all or some of the following:

• Articulation agreements or structures may exist but do not adequately address barriers
• Articulation agreements may not include all schools or are school specific (Universities may be required to have many different articulation agreements)
• Individual courses may articulate and can be assessed by students or advisers via website or other listing
• Nursing course may articulate but pre-requisites and General Education requirements for AD to not prepare student to enter directly into BSN program
• Articulation agreements are static; not adjusted in view of outcomes
• Students following articulation pathway commonly complete the BSN with > 128 semester units
• Energy is growing to “do something together” to help students/nurses progress to the BSN more seamlessly

 Employers value BSN and are considering the ROI, which may include all or some of the following:

• Employers educate the workforce on the value of BSN
• CNOs may participate on advisory committees with Schools of Nursing
• Employer representatives engaged as co-designers of educational programs
• Schools of Nursing may still value employer representatives primarily as a pathway to clinical placements
• Employers and union representatives engage in dialog about academic progression
• CNOs value RN to BSN education but are not aware of the opportunity or potential benefit of partnership between AD and BSN programs
• Academic and practice representatives have identified a broad group of stakeholders who will need to participate in the process
• CNOs with limitations on clinical placements begin to recognize that students in partnership programs are in a baccalaureate track even while completing AD coursework

 The following outcomes are typically expected during Engagement:

• Information about the proportion of students who matriculate directly into any BSN program may be being tracked OR there is recognition of the need to track
• Stakeholders may have data on diversity of their workforce and the community they serve; recognition of need for this information
• AD program data allows tracking of diversity data for enrollment and graduation

Refer to the Resources page for tools and articles most helpful at this stage of development.