Florida Nurse - June 2017

Page 16 The Florida Nurse June 2017
Nursing Community
Inspires Nurses to be more than Leaders in the Profession:
Getting Involved to Make a Profound Impact on the Health of our
Communities
Addressing Nurse Workforce Issues
for the Health of Florida
The Florida Center for Nursing (FCN) will be
conducting its 2017 Employer Survey in July.
Every two years, the Center surveys hospitals,
psychiatric hospitals, home health agencies,
long-term care/skilled nursing facilities,
hospices, and departments of public health to
determine the present and future demand for
nurses. FCN uses this information to report
statewide and regional demand for nurses in
these employment settings in order to help
employers and other healthcare stakeholders
make informed decisions and plan for the future.
(We never report information on individual
facilities). Here are just a few findings from our
2015 survey:
• Statewide, there were an estimated 12,493
vacant RN positions and 9,947 estimated
new RN positions to be created in 2016.
• Employers indicated that difficult to fill
positions were those requiring RNs with
advanced education and/or experience.
• Over 70% of hospitals preferentially hire
new graduate BSNs.
WE NEED YOUR HELP!! Please help us
achieve a high survey response by encouraging
your employer to participate in this survey or,
if you are not working in one of these settings,
talk to your friends and colleagues who are and
ask that they support participation in the survey.
The higher the response rate, the better we can
estimate vacancies, turnover, and expected job
growth for nurses in Florida.
For more information on the Employer Survey,
please visit www.flcenterfornursing.org or
contact the Center at (407)823-0980 or NurseCtr@
ucf.edu.
Florida Action Coalition Board Service Initiative Graduates
2016 Board Service Initiative Update: *18 of
our 26 graduates are serving on policy making
boards, committees or task forces in Florida.
All communities benefit from having highly
qualified nurses on boards, task forces, and
commissions, etc. Nurses are by the nature
of their work continuous learners, adaptive
to change, results oriented, have the highest
integrity, and are constructive partners. The
Board Service class participants were taught the
responsibilities as stewards of organizational
board membership as well as the principles of
governance that power exceptional boards. Meet
our first class of graduates, and find out about
Realizing the Health Industry Workforce
Needs for Today and Tomorrow
The work of the Florida Healthcare Workforce
(FHW) initiative continues in its third year.
The mission of the FHW initiative is to develop
recommendations for statewide policy that
will facilitate a pipeline of highly skilled talent
to meet the demand of Florida’s healthcare
workforce needs. With support from industry
driven leadership across all healthcare professions
throughout the state of Florida, the following
accomplishments were achieved in 2016:
1. Continued engagement of the Leadership
Council and seven Regional Councils,
2. Publication of a report on Emerging and
Evolving Roles and Occupations,
3. Adoption of a healthcare workforce data
collection strategy,
4. Organization of a Statewide Summit that
included the exploration of other state’s
healthcare workforce models.
Highlights of the work slated for 2017, year
three of the initiative, include:
• A report of Job Creation Opportunities to
fill the emerging and evolving roles and
occupations within the healthcare industry
identified in year two.
• Exploration of long-term processes to
continue deliberation of regional workforce
issues and potential solutions.
• A webinar for Regional Councils on talent
development and employer resource
opportunities available from Career Source.
• The expansion of the Healthcare Data
Collection Strategy developed in year two.
For more information about the Florida
Healthcare Workforce initiative, please visit the
website at www.flhealthcareworkforce.org or
contact Karin Kazimi, Project Director at Karin@
FLHealthcareWorkforce.org.
our 2017 Board Service Course at https://www.
flcenterfornursing.org/FL-ActionCoalition/
ProfessionalBoardTraining.aspx.
FL-AC Regional Teams Serving to Lead the
Change Nursing and Healthcare: The Florida
Action Coalition has a new Advisory Council and
Regional Leaders with unique goals, objectives,
and implementing activities to achieve the IOM
recommendation’s work in our local communities.
Join us in celebrating our work at the new
Florida Action Coalition webpage https://www.
flcenterfornursing.org/FL-ActionCoalition.aspx
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter: @FLaAction &
LinkedIn.
Florida Coalition of
Advanced Practice Nurses
The Florida Coalition of Advanced Practice
Nurses (FCAPN) is an alliance of Florida
state advanced practice nursing organizations
dedicated to coordinating efforts to advance
nursing in Florida and improving Healthcare
Delivery.
On March 8, 2017 the FCAPN met at its
quarterly meeting to discuss this year’s
legislative session, pending legislation, and
strategy towards maintaining the current
momentum in lifting unnecessary restrictions on
the scope of practice of advanced practice nurses
in Florida. FCAPN also welcomed the Florida
Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists as full
members of the Coalition and looks forward to
their significant contributions to the coalition’s
mission.
The next scheduled meeting of the Coalition
will be July 8th, 2017 at FNA headquarters.
All members of the FCAPN welcomed
proposed legislation introduced in the Florida
Legislature in 2017 that would have allowed
APRN’s to practice to their full scope but
uniformly opposed language that would have
created potential obstacles to APRNs providing
care and increased physician control and
oversight of APRN practice. The Coalition hopes
to work with all members of the alliance and
state legislators to craft effective and meaningful
legislative language in the coming year that
can help improve healthcare access and lift
unnecessary limitations on APRN practice.
For more information about the Florida
Coalition of Advanced Practice Nurses visit:
https://www.facebook.com/FloridaCoalition/.