Background & Structure

Background

In 2005, the Alliance for Clinical Education identified an alarming level of unmet clinical placement needs in metropolitan Denver . Simultaneously, the Colorado State Board of Nursing noted the same concern statewide, and called for a statewide database to track clinical placement supply and demand. ACE convened a task force of stakeholders from throughout Colorado to define needs and review technologies in use elsewhere. That group selected a platform in use in Oregon , which has now been customized for Colorado 's purposes.

The Central Colorado Area Health Education Center (AHEC) provided funds to license the platform for one year. Operational funding for the two-year pilot is provided by The Colorado Health Foundation as part of "Partners Investing in Nursing's Future," a collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson/Northwest Health Foundation.

Structure

The Colorado Center for Nursing Excellence manages the Clinical Placement Technology System and Matching Inventory under the direction of the Clinical Placement Implementation Oversight Committee.

The Colorado Health Foundation funds the system pilot through a "Partners Investing in Nursing's Future" grant, a collaborative initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Northwest Health Foundation. The Colorado Area Health Education Center System underwrites database licensing fees.

Implementation Oversight Committee Members (Jan. 2007)

Deb Center , RN, MSN , CNS
Project Director, Colorado Nursing Clinical Placement Technology System and Matching Inventory

Carol Alexander, RN, MS
Chair, Alliance for Clinical Education; Director of Education, Porter & Littleton Adventist Hospitals

Jana Berryman, ND, CNS, RN
Project Director, Work, Education & Lifelong Learning Simulation (WELLS) Center

Sue Carparelli
President and CEO , Colorado Center for Nursing Excellence

Karren Kowalski, PhD, RN, FAAN
Project Director, Faculty Development Initiative

Vatsala Kapur Pathy
Senior Program Officer, The Colorado Health Foundation

Gayle Preheim, EdD, RN, CNAA , BC
President, Colorado Council on Nursing Education; Director, Baccalaureate Nursing Program, School of Nursing , University of Colorado at Denver & Health Sciences Center

Kris Wenzel, RN, MBA
Executive Director, Central Colorado Area Health Education Center

• The Implementation Oversight Committee meets monthly. Contact the administrative assistant, Placement@ColoradoNursingCenter.org, if interested in attending.
• Membership on the Implementation Oversight Committee is open to all interested schools of nursing statewide; however, only organizations participating in the pilot are entitled to vote and have access to the database.
• Each partner organization has one vote.
• Student representatives participate in a non-voting, advisory capacity, to provide a student voice to the committee.
• Non-pilot participants will be permitted to attend the Implementation Oversight Meetings. These members will serve in an "advisory" capacity to the committee and will not have voting privileges.
• As membership and participation increases with the project, regional committees will be developed based on AHEC regions (Metro Denver, Western Slope, Northeast Colorado, Southern Colorado, San Luis Valley).

For more information, contact Deb Center , RN, MSN , CNS - Project Director, at
(303) 715-0343 or deb@coloradonursingcenter.org .