Alumni Forums Focus on the Future
As the largest component of the healthcare workforce, nurses are increasingly called upon to coordinate and fill gaps in the care of patients while supplying crucial leadership in how that care is administered. And as their role expands, today’s nurses must graduate not only with the skills demanded by current technology but also the capacity for life-long learning, the ability to adapt and implement innovations yet to come.
This challenge was the focus of “Leading Innovation in Healthcare and Nursing Education,” a series of Florida meetings held by the deans, key alumni, and current students of three of the nation’s leading academic nursing research universities—Johns Hopkins University, Duke University, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
The January meetings in Jacksonville, Tampa, and Naples were forums to explore advances in nursing education, research, and practice in a post-reform healthcare era. For three years, the schools have partnered to share best practices developed by each nursing program.
“Innovation is no longer just a grand idea. For nurses, it is survival,” said Martha N. Hill, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. “Working together, our alumni can be the eyes of experience in the field, and our students can provide a glimpse at the future. What we must do as educators is listen and learn as well as teach, to use that combination of wisdom and youthful energy to build a collective vision that looks always for what’s best and what’s next.”