http://www.oregoncenterfornursing.org The Oregon Center for Nursing, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was established by Oregon's nursing leaders in 2002 with a mission to provide the leadership to solve the nursing workforce shortage in Oregon. en-us Between February and May 2012 the Oregon Center for Nursing OCN will offer free inperson and webinar courses to current and student healthcare professionals who would like to increase their cultural competence skills with patients and coworkers as part of the Cultural Competence Network CCN event series On Friday November 4 2011 the Oregon Nursing Leadership Collaborative ONLC announced the formation of two workgroups dedicated to implementing changes recommended in the 2010 Institute of Medicine IOM Future of Nursing report One group will focus on increasing the number of baccalaureateeducated nurses and the other will focus on preparing and enabling nurses to lead change The groups will develop action plans that will affect the way nurses participate in health care transformation and provide care throughout Oregon Nurses in all roles and practice settings are being called on to assume more leadership responsibilities To help Oregon nurses fill these roles nationally renowned speaker Kathleen Bartholmew RN MN will speak at the Oregon Center for Nursingrsquos OCNNursing Leadership If Not Us Then Whoconference in Portland on Thursday February 9 2012 On the morning of September 28 2011 the Oregon Center for Nursing OCN reminded more than 200 attendees that Every Nurse Is A Leader This fundraiser breakfast held at the Oregon Zoo raised more than 100000 to support the work of OCNPraise for the event was overwhelming As one guest summarized I am once again able to look back on all those years of nursing with renewed pride and gratitude understanding that while I worked hard at being a good nurse I was also a good leader calling patients by their names and leading staff to achieve at higher levels and always being far more than lsquojust a nursersquoView the quotEvery Nurse Is A Leaderquot videoView a clip of quotTogether We Canquot Recent media coverage of the nursing shortage has focused on the difficulty recent nursing graduates face finding employment leaving many to ask Is there still a nursing shortage The Oregon Center for Nursing OCN answers this question in its 2011 report Nurses Wanted The Changing Demand for Registered Nurses in Oregon August 31 2011 Oregons Public Broadcastings quotThink Out Loudquot program discussed the shortage of nursing faculty on its program today The moderator was joined by Chris Tanner of OHSU Joanne Warner of the University of Portland School of Nursing and Susan King of the Oregon Nurses Association and Oregon Center for Nursing Board Member To listen to the archived broadcast click here At the same time a brain drain and changing needs have exacerbated the nursing shortage in Oregon with 25 percent of nurses planning to retire in the next 10 years On June 23 2011 the Oregon Center for Nursing OCN kicked off its 2011 Long Term Care Nursing Leadership Network series with a new option for individuals to attend remotely by webinarWe have consistently heard from nurses that they would love to attend our leadership events but are unable to get away from work said Mary Rita Hurley Executive Director of OCN The webinar option makes this series more accessible for nurses working in rural communities or in smaller facilities with less staff coverage The Office for Oregon Health Policy and Research OHPR has officially released the firstOregon Health Professions Occupational and County Profilesreport to help understand the current health care workforce in Oregon to help policymakers make informed decisions when planning for future workforce needs The Health Resources and Services Administrationrsquos HRSA Nursing Scholarship Program NSP application cycle is now open On March 23 2011 Mary Rita Hurley RN MPA Executive Director of the Oregon Center for Nursing joined stakeholders from around Oregon to testify before the Senate Health Care Human Services and Rural Health Policy Committee on SB 879 SB 879 directs the Oregon Health Authority to convene a work group to develop standards for administrative requirements for student placement in clinical training settings in Oregon Full audio of the testimony on SB 879 can be downloaded here On March 1 2011 the Oregon Student Assistance Commission will begin accepting applications for the 2011 Nursing Faculty Loan Repayment Program The purpose of the Nursing Faculty Loan Repayment Program is to provide student loan repayments on behalf of nurse educators employed full time at nursing schools in Oregon Participants receive annual payments toward the qualifying student loan debt obtained from their registered nursing program and accredited nursing education program in exchange for teaching full time Qualified Applicants must be nurse educators employed full time by an Oregon nursing school to be eligible to participate in this program The US Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration is accepting applications for its Nurse Education Loan Repayment Program NELRP now through February 8 2011Free webinars on the application process and other information will be providedJanuary 4 2011 300 pm January 5 2011 930 am1200 pmApplication Deadline February 8 2011 500 pm ESTMore Information Mary Rita Hurley RN MPA has accepted the position of Executive Director of the Oregon Center for Nursing OCN a nonprofit organization with a mission to provide the leadership to solve the nursing shortage in Oregon Hurley will start her new position following the departure of current Executive Director Kristine K Campbell RN PhD in January 2011 The Oregon Center for Nursing recently completed work on a grant from the Oregon Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development and found that the acceptance rate of Oregonrsquos nursing programs when looking at data collected in 20082009 and 20092010 is 50 percent There are 21 qualified nursing school applicants for every nursing school seat in Oregon This is much lower than previous reports of 56 qualified students per seat On November 4 more than 80 student and practicing nurses attended the Nurturing Cultural Competence in Nursing Promising Practices for Education and Healthcare conference presented by the Oregon Center for Nursing OCN and The Oregon Community Foundation OCF The conference focused on the outcomes of 13 projects designed to improve the cultural competence of nursing students nursing faculty and practicing nurses to increase nursesrsquo ability to provide patients with culturally competent care The Oregon Center for Nursing announced today that its annual Leadership at the Point of Care conference will be held February 17 2011 This years theme Leadership at the Point of Care Exploring Opportunities for Conflict Engagement is a oneday conference featuring Dr Phyllis Kritek Nursing students health care administrators and the community are invited to attend Nurturing Cultural Competence in Nursing Promising Practices for Education and Healthcare a conference presented by the Oregon Center for Nursing OCN and the Oregon Community Foundation OCF to showcase outcomes of 13 projects designed to improve the cultural competence of nurses The conference takes place on Thursday November 4 2010 from 8 am to 4 pm at the Governor Hotel Registration is 75 per person with a 25 discount for students Jennifer Fink highlighted the Oregon Center for Nursings quotAre You Man Enough To Be A Nursequotrecruitment campaign in a recent article for scrubsmagcomFull article The Oregon Center for Nursing is proud to announce the 2010 Long Term Care Leadership Network Breakfast Series Please visit the Long Term Care Leadership page for more information on the events Thank you to our event cosponsors Oregon Health Care Association Marquis Care Vermont Hills Marys Woods at Marylhurst and Avamere at Hillsboro for hosting these education and networking opportunities Deborah Ford Portland State University PSU is conducting a research study to investigate how hospital culture and nurse characteristics at work influence nursesrsquo performance commitment job satisfaction and stress The Division of Nursing is pleased to announce the funding opportunity for the 2010 Nurse Faculty Loan Program NFLP The 2010 NFLP funding opportunity will be used to award both the regular NFLP appropriation and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ARRANFLP funding Applicants may apply to one or both of these funding requests using this single program guidance The ARRA funding option will be addressed during Phase 2 of the application process Career Satisfaction Among Oregonrsquos Registered Nurses A Report from the Oregon Center for Nursing was released todayThe report is based on Oregon Center for Nursingrsquos survey of nurses across all sectors of nursing and in all regions of Oregon The survey results yielded a wealth of information regarding current levels of career satisfaction and allowed the Oregon Center for Nursing OCN to quantify data previously only available in anecdotal form Survey results showed most Oregon nurses are satisfied with their career and their satisfaction levels have grown in recent years Thank you to all the nurses who responded to the OCN survey and spoke so eloquently about their work and their commitment to quality patient care The Oregon Faculty Loan Repayment Program established in the 2009 is now accepting applications Please visit the Oregon Student Assistance Commission for more information on how to apply for these funds Oregon Takes the Lead in Addressing the Nursing Shortage A collaborative effort to recruit and educate nursesAmerican Journal of Nursing March 2010Volume 110 No 3 Conference materials from the Leadership at the Point of Care The Critical Role of the Nurse Manager in 2010 are now available online On February 2526 2010 the Oregon Center for Nursing hosted the Leadership at the Point of Care The Critical Role of the Nurse Manager in 2010 conference in Portland Oregon