Nurses for Wisconsin: A Collaborative Initiative to Enhance the Nurse Educator Workforce

Wisconsin, like much of the nation, is currently suffering from a growing nursing shortage. The University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire College of Nursing and Health Sciences, in partnership with the University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and University of Wisconsin Oshkosh nursing programs, took advantage of a University of Wisconsin System Incentive Grant for economic and workforce development to address this problem. With a $3.2 million award, the Nurses for Wisconsin goal is to increase the number of baccalaureate registered nurses by expanding the nursing education capacity within the University of Wisconsin System. Nurses for Wisconsin is accelerating the preparation of nursing faculty by supporting nurses to enroll in doctor of nursing practice or nursing doctor of philosophy programs with pre- and postdoctoral fellowship awards ranging from $21,500 to $90,000 and the recruitment of faculty with a loan repayment program of up to $50,000. In exchange for the financial support, fellows and faculty must make a 3-year commitment to teach in a UW System nursing program. Two conferences for program participants are also funded through the award. The first conference was held in October 2014. The second conference is scheduled for summer 2015. With the first year of the 2-year project completed, this article describes Nurses for Wisconsin from inception to implementation and midterm assessment with a focus on lessons learned. A follow-up article addressing final outcomes and next steps is planned. •State incentive grant presented an opportunity for the University of Wisconsin System nursing colleges with doctoral programs to create a pipeline for nurse educators•Nurses for Wisconsin was award 3.2 million dollars to fund pre doctoral, postdoctoral fellowships and loan forgiveness for faculty hire•Mid-project evaluation indicates predoctoral fellowship awards exceeded projected number of awardees while postdoctoral and faculty loan repayment participants lagged behind expected outcomes•Implementation of this multidimensional, multisite award presented challenges•Final evaluation of this initiative will be presented in a subsequent article