Nursing drives interdisciplinary health care workforce planning in Wisconsin: one state's experience

The Consortium for Primary Care in Wisconsin convened a forum to develop an interdisciplinary primary care workforce plan to address issues related to the supply of and demand for primary health care providers in Wisconsin. Nursing leaders played a pivotal role in making this effort successful and in ensuring that the focus would be on all primary health care professionals, not just physicians. This process used a primary care workforce planning tool (IRM) developed by the Bureau of Health Professions, U.S. Public Health Service which allowed Wisconsin to (1) examine its own workforce needs with data produced in Wisconsin, (2) compare the state's situation with national trends, and (3) include these data and projections in a cooperative process for state-level planning for interdisciplinary workforce development. The Bureau has encouraged other states and organizations to adopt a similar strategy through a series of IRM workshops in which the Wisconsin process serves as a model for training materials developed for these workshops. The Wisconsin planning process is an innovative model for other states to follow in facilitating workforce development and serves to encourage other states to share their experiences in the academic literature.