Careers and Jobs with the Center
It is a too-often-ignored reality that access to quality and affordable healthcare by all Colorado residents requires a knowledgeable, skilled and competent nursing workforce. Colorado health care providers employ over three times the number of nurses than physicians (51,300 vs. 16,400). Active in every county and with every type of health care provider, nurses are the backbone of Colorado's health care delivery system.
The reality is, however, that insuring that Colorado has a sufficient number of highly skilled nurses is not a part of anyone's or any organization's "job description". As a result, Colorado residents and healthcare providers are unavoidably at the mercy of random labor market forces, the economy, educational priorities, and good fortune in terms of their current and future ability to access skilled nurses. With over 35% (18,000) of the state's nurses over the age of 55, developing an adequate nursing workforce pipeline and effective nursing leadership is an increasingly important challenge.
With the ambitious goal of helping to fill this statewide nursing workforce policy and workforce-related "job description" in some small but hopefully high-impact manner, the Colorado Center for Nursing Excellence was founded in 2002. The Center's primary focus is on creating and implementing innovative partnerships and projects that will help to insure Colorado's future supply of highly skilled nurses, adequate nursing educational capacity, and experienced nursing leadership. The Center is one of the leading nursing workforce centers in the nation. We strive to create $10 worth of impact with $1 worth of resources!
Past and current center projects have received funding from The Colorado Trust, The Colorado Health Foundation, Caring for Colorado, The Timothy and Bernadette Marquez Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Northwest Health Foundation, Colorado Department of Labor and Employment and the federal HHS Health Resources & Services Administration.
With a staff of nine part-time and full-time employees, the Center is actively implementing a wide range of projects, such as the following:
- Developing nursing clinical instructors (AKA "Clinical Scholars")
- Increasing the supply and quality of nurses in long-term-care and home health care settings
- Researching and helping to respond to Colorado's nursing faculty shortage
- Increasing the visibility and skills of nursing leaders
- Increasing the involvement and awareness of nurses related to access to health issues
The Center offers experienced nurses a highly flexible, innovative, and collegial work environment. While we are always looking for nurses that are interested in having an impact on Colorado nursing- and healthcare-related issues, below are the current job opportunities with the Center.