APIN Grant Project: California

Program Goal: The APIN project goal for the Los Angeles Collaborative was to advance the expansion and sustainability of a seamless and collaborative model of excellence in nursing education between associate degree (ADN) and baccalaureate degree (BSN) nursing programs in California. Six objectives were identified to achieve that goal.

Objective 1: Increase the number and percent of BSN or higher prepared nurses in the Cal State LA Collaborative; leveraging scalability of the California Collaborative Model of Nursing Education (CCMNE) expansion of programs in other regions. Currently 145 students are enrolled in the Cal State LA collaborative with another 80 to be admitted for Summer 2017 which meets our target projection. Student enrollments in all ADN-BSN programs in the LA region have met or exceeded our target of 800 with a total of 1015 in 2015. We have increased the completions of ADN - BSN to 123 students in the LA collaborative, currently partnering with thirteen community colleges. Student completion in all types of RN-BSN programs in the Los Angeles region has exceeded our target of 640 in both 2015 and 2016 with 920 and 896, respectively. The attrition rate for the first LA collaborative cohort who graduated in 2015 was 2% in 2016; cohort two was 33% attributing the higher attrition rate for the second cohort to the increase in employment offers to newly licensed RNs in 2016 Many of the students who withdrew from the program had work/study conflicts. Students who left the program were performing well academically, and have indicated they are committed to obtaining the BSN.

In the state of California, 90% of ADN schools have a formal seamless pathway with a BSN program. Approximately 1,000 ADN students across the state were newly enrolled in CCMNE type ADN to BSN programs in academic year 2015-2016, which is 15% of all ADN students, nearly doubling our projected target of 566 annual enrollments. Student enrollment in all types of RN-BSN programs across the state has also increased to 2, 355 very close to our target of 2,400.Student completions from all types of RN-BSN programs across the state are continuing to rise slowly at 1,845 for 2016 which missed our target by 455. We believe an equal number of nurses may be enrolled in online RN to BSN programs out of state, however such enrollment data is not nationally available. We are confident the completion numbers will continue to increase.

Objective 2: Strengthen the composition of the nursing workforce prepared with a BSN or higher level of education aligned with the diversity and inclusion demographics of populations served at community, regional and statewide levels is evidenced by data from the Cal State LA Collaborative, the Los Angles/Ventura County region, and the state of California. The Cal State Collaborative has increased enrollment of Hispanic students from 30% to 35% in the past two years. Additionally, 9% of students report being two or more races, with Hispanic typically accounting for one of those races. If these numbers were included, the target of 38% has been exceeded. All other numbers for Hispanic/Latino students in all areas of California across all programs, including the RN workforce data, demonstrate an increase in numbers just short of projected goals, except for Entry Level Master’s (ELM) programs in California which reflect 20% of those students of Latino/Hispanic heritage exceeding the goal of 13.5%. The target of 7% African American enrollment in the Cal State LA collaborative program has been met and slightly exceeded. For other regions across California, the enrollment of African American students and the African American distribution in California’s workforce, the numbers are stable or rising slowly, yet still slightly below the targets projected. As the dual enrollment model of ADN to BSN education recruits ADN students enrolled in local colleges who also reside in those communities, this approach uniquely aligns the ethnic diversity of the future nursing workforce with communities served.

Objective 3: Provide evidence of CCMNE success and sustainability; institutionalizing the Cal State LA Collaborative program to assure stability and growth was accomplished in 2015-2016 with the Cal State LA collaborative program now entirely self-sustaining/supported through the College of Professional and Global Education (PAGE) on campus, rather than relying on the uncertainty of state funded resources. All 13 participating community colleges have signed annual MOU’s signifying their commitment to the program.

Objective 4: Demonstrate value of the model to employers in providing a higher educated workforce, including shared commitments that leverage employer support. The benchmark target of 90.5% of California employers who prefer or require a BSN degree was met in 2016. The percentages of employers who require or prefer a BSN increased 5% from 2015 to 2016, however has not met the benchmark of 90%, (currently at 85.3%). Salary differentiation for the BSN degree and an increase in salary for those obtaining the BSN degree is still lagging a bit from the projected goal 31.6% vs 34% and 19% vs 23% respectively. However, employer tuition reimbursement provided by employers for the advanced degree has exceeded the benchmark of 70% and is currently at 76%.

Objective 5: Utilize current and future workforce data to inform, monitor, and evaluate sustained progress in achieving established goals for advancing BSN or higher educational levels in the Los Angeles Region. All of the performance measures exceeded the target goals for this objective. The percent of RN’s with a diploma or ADN degree in California and the Los Angeles/Ventura county area decreased as projected, while the percent of RN’s working and residing in the Los Angles/Ventura county area and the state of California increased beyond our projections. Similarly the percent of RN’s in both the region and the state with a MSN or doctoral degree increased beyond our projections, as did the percent of RN’s in California and the region with a BSN or higher degree.