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About Us
High-quality health care begins with nurses. Knowledgeable, skilled, compassionate – they are
the backbone of our health care system.
Yet Colorado faces a critical mismatch between the number of nurses we have and the number
of nurses we need. Our state has 12 percent fewer nurses than our population requires – double
the national vacancy rate.
The Colorado Center for Nursing Excellence is the only organization in Colorado exclusively dedicated to ensuring that our state has adequate numbers of highly-qualified nurses.
We bring together educational institutions, hospitals, government agencies, foundations and the business community to investigate the sources of the shortfall, develop strategies to address it and secure funding to implement those plans. With an emphasis on collaboration and innovation, the Center leads the way toward developing Colorado’s nursing workforce of the future.
The Center’s research has examined important facets of the nursing shortage in Colorado, such as:
- The readiness of recent nursing graduates to meet current practice demands.
- The critical shortage of qualified faculty at all our nursing schools.
- The importance of broad-based coordination to develop effective solutions.
Findings such as these shape the Center’s priorities and projects.
Representative Projects
- Work, Education and Lifelong Learning Simulation (WELLS) Center – The nation’s most
advanced resource for clinical simulation training, combining computerized mannequins
with 3-D computerized anatomical imaging. Satellite datacasting provided by Rocky
Mountain PBS will make the WELLS Center’s resources available throughout at the state.
Every school of nursing and hospital will have access to the WELLS Center, which is
housed at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and funded in part by the
Colorado Dept. of Labor and Employment and U.S. Dept. of Labor. The Colorado Center
for Nursing Excellence helped to develop the lab and oversees its operations.
- Faculty Development Initiative – A two-year, $1 million effort, funded by the Colorado
Dept. of Labor and Employment and coordinated by the Center, to train new clinical
faculty. Launched in 2005, the Initiative has already trained more than 150 new clinical
scholars, enabling more than 800 clinical rotations.
- Colorado Consortium for Nurse Retention – Because many nurses leave the profession
due to dissatisfaction, the Center seeks to develop programs to increase nursing job
satisfaction and retention. This five-year project replicates one Denver hospital’s model of
collaborative process improvement and nurse empowerment in other rural and urban
test sites. At the end of the pilot project, we hope to demonstrate the positive impact of
this model on clinical outcomes and nurse retention, and disseminate this approach to
other sites throughout Colorado.
Funding Partners
Banner Health
Centura Health Systems
Colorado Health Foundation
Colorado Permanente Medical Group
Columbine Health Care
Exempla Health Care
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HealthONE
Kaiser Permanente
Poudre Valley Hospital
Rose Community Foundation
St. Mary’s Hospital
University of Colorado Hospital |
Board of Directors
M. Thomas Boyer (Chair) – CEO, Princeton Associates
Jack Cochran, MD – Executive Medical Director, Colorado Permanente Medical Group
Lynn Dierker, RN – Deputy Director of Community Initiatives, Colorado Health Institute
Ann Evans, RN, MS, MBA – Vice President, CNO, Exempla Lutheran Medical Center
Bert Glandon – President, Arapahoe Community College
Carol Gregory, RN, MSN, MBA – CNO, The Medical Center of Aurora
Kathy Harris, RN, MS CHE – Regional VP Clinical Services, Banner Health Western
Region
Kelly Johnson (Chair), RN, MSN, CFNP, CRRN, CNAA – Chair, Advisory Council
Craig Luzinski, MSN, RN, CNAA-BC, CHE, CNO - Poudre Valley Hospital
John McWilliams – President, Western Skies Group
Kay Norton – President, University of Northern Colorado (Greeley)
Sharon Pappas, RN, MSN, CNAA, PhD – COO/CNO, Porter Adventist Hospital
Linda Fischer Smith, MSHA, MSN – Director, Regional Nursing Service, Strategy and
Innovation,
Kaiser Permanente
Jerry Spicer, RN, MPA – Vice President, Patient Services, St. Mary’s Hospital and Medical
Center
(Grand Junction)
Advisory Council
Carol Dungan Applegeet, MSN, RN, CNOR, CNAA, FAAN – Director of Perioperative
Services,
St. Mary’s Hospital and Medical Center (Grand Junction)
Kate Bechtold, MHA, RN – CNO, St. Anthony Hospitals
Victoria Broerman, RN – Area Director, Sen. Wayne Allard
Linda Brophy, RN, MN, MPH – Associate Chief of Clinical Services, Vail Valley Medical
Center
Nancy Kiernan Case, RN – Chair, Department of Nursing, Metropolitan State College of Denver
Colleen Casper, MSRN (Denver)
Vicki V. Earnest, RN, MS (Denver)
Janet Houser, PhD, EdS, MN – Associate Professor, Regis University
Kelly Johnson (Chair), RN, MSN, CFNP, CRRN, CNAA – VP Patient Care Services, Craig
Hospital
Lee Ann Kane, RN, MSN – Director, Nursing Staff Development, Denver Health
Mary Krugman, RN, PhD, FAAN - Director, Professional Resources, University of Colorado Hospital
Susie Law, BSN, RN, MBA - Regional VP, Ethics & Compliance Officer, All About Staffing
Debra Leners, PhD RN, PNP, CNE - Professor Interim Director, School of Nursing,
University of
Northern Colorado
Yvonne D. Myers – Health Systems Coordinator, Columbine Health Systems
Karen O’Brien, MN, RN, C – Director, Public Health Nursing, office of Local Liaison,
Colorado,
Dept. of Public Health & Environment
Gayle Preheim, Ed.D., RN, CNAA, BC, CNE - President, Colorado Council on Nursing
Education
Linda Roan, RN, MSN – Director of Education, Exempla Good Samaritan Medical Center
Susan Schreiner, RN, MSN, CPNP - Regional Nursing Education Manager, Kaiser Permanente
Nancy Smith, PhD, RN, BC, FAANP – Dean and Program Director, Denver School of
Nursing
Paula M. Stearns, MSN, RN – Executive Director, Colorado Nurses Association
Nan Walters, RN, MSN - Chair, School of Nursing, Westminster Campus, Front Range Community
College
Kristina R. Wenzel, RN, MBA – Executive Director, Central Colorado Area Health
Education
Center
For more information, contact Sue Carparelli, Center President and CEO,
(303) 715-0343 x 10
» Download Colorado Center for Nursing Excellence fact sheet
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For additional information, tools and resources on Colorado nursing, call 303-715-0343. |
