The Future of Workforce Development in Professional Nursing Practice

The nursing shortage has caused health care systems-as employers-to re-evaluate how to support their nurses better, provide opportunities for nurses to achieve their goals, and address workforce shortages. In the white paper Pathways to Lessen the Nursing Shortage and Increase Equity in the Field for Working Adult Learners, a strategic plan is laid out to address workforce development via partnerships and innovative models. This column builds on that work to address the shortage of nurses in advanced roles. It examines how to account for the real lives of nurses who are working adult learners, including credit for prior learning, and how ANCC accredited CE can be leveraged to propel academic and professional role advancement. The time is now for health care organizations and institutions of higher education to partner and create meaningful talent pipelines and innovate and evolve the growth and learning of nurses on a continuum. [.