Preparing for future nursing demand

As patient care shifts from the hospital to community settings, the demand for nurses is also changing. Hospitals, long-term care agencies, and ambulatory settings need to identify their future need for nurses and work with schools of nursing to help prepare or retrain nurses for the jobs of the future. This article describes a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation project, administered by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, to help nursing schools, hospitals, and other employers meet current and future nursing workforce needs in their regions. Organizations involved in employing or training nurses along with hospital associations, boards of nursing, and health education providers can apply for funding as regional nursing workforce consortia.