KU School of Nursing receives $500,000 gift for the Kansas Nursing Workforce Center
Centene Foundation and Sunflower Health Plan announce major gift to develop a central source of data to address nursing shortages across the state of Kansas
The University of Kansas School of Nursing and KU Endowment have received a $500,000 gift from the Centene Foundation and Sunflower Health Plan to build a centralized data collection and exchange system for the Kansas Nursing Workforce Center.
“The Kansas Nursing Workforce Center is grateful for the funding that will allow us to create our data infrastructure,” said Amy Garcia, MSN, RN, DNP, FAAN, co-director of the Kansas Nursing Workforce Center. “This gift enables us to build a central source for nursing workforce information, something our stakeholders requested during our statewide listening sessions. People asked us to collect and analyze specific information to help them solve the chronic supply and demand imbalance found in the Kansas nursing workforce, and this data warehouse will make that possible.”
The data warehouse will improve the information-gathering process for the Kansas Nursing Workforce Center and key stakeholders, allowing researchers to ask better questions and get better answers about the nursing workforce in Kansas. The Kansas Nursing Workforce Center will use the collected information to create dashboards and reports to address the systemic challenges surrounding nurse recruitment and retention, as well as student access to nursing programs.
Once the data warehouse is built, the Kansas Nursing Workforce Center will be able to develop better models for projections of nurse supply and demand and deliver long- and short-term projections, as well as answer questions about patient care and the value of the nursing profession.
“Nurses play an integral role in health care delivery and the overall health outcomes of Kansans,” said Alissa Zerr, DNP, vice president of population health at Sunflower Health Plan. “Sunflower Health Plan is honored to sponsor, participate in and support the Kansas Nursing Workforce Center, and we believe its collaborative intention and comprehensive plan will advance the health care workforce across the state for decades to come.”
Last August, KU School of Nursing announced the launch of the Kansas Nursing Workforce Center to address multiple crises in the field of nursing. This new center is at KU School of Nursing in Kansas City, Kansas, but its purpose is statewide — to foster collaboration among nursing stakeholders to address shortages of nurses and of nursing faculty.
As part of this effort, the Kansas Nursing Workforce Center will collect and analyze:
- Nurse licensure data with a deep understanding of nurse demographics and specialties.
- Labor data on nursing jobs and nurses in the workforce.
- Commerce data on pathways to nursing and health care in the community.
- Population-level health outcomes data.
Last year, KU School of Nursing hosted multiple conversations throughout the state with a wide variety of stakeholders before launching the Kansas Nursing Workforce Center.
“The Kansas Nursing Workforce Center will do things that matter,” Garcia said. “We will help people find their pathway to becoming a nurse. We will develop programs to help nurses find joy in their work. We will study the supply of, and demand for, nurses and provide reports to help communities find and keep the nurses they need. And we will convene schools, employers, associations and government to find better ideas to strengthen nursing and resolve the ongoing shortage of nurses.”