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Educating the Educators Susan J. Zahner, DrPH, RN Assistant Professor of Nursing Wisconsin’s first wealth is its health. Guided by this principle, two nurse-researchers at the UW-Madison School of Nursing are leading statewide education-based initiatives to produce a healthier Wisconsin for the patients, families, and communities. Faculty researcher Susan Zahner, DrPH, RN, aims to improve public health nursing education and practice in Wisconsin. “Public health service delivery is increasingly focused on population level programs and approaches. Wisconsin’s population is becoming more racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse, and our state’s public health nursing workforce is aging,” Zahner says. “Given these three trends, public health nurses in Wisconsin are increasingly challenged to provide population-based health services that address serious health issues in effective and culturally competent ways.” To this end, Zahner, along with colleagues in the Wisconsin Division of Public Health and other schools of nursing in the state, has developed the Linking Education and Practice for Excellent in Public Health Nursing Project. Funded by the federal Department of Health and Human Services/Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the LEAP Project’s goal is to improve education for practice in public health nursing throughout the state by targeting nursing faculty in baccalaureate nursing programs, undergraduate nursing students, and practicing public health nurses. One of the project’s activities is the creation of regional learning collaboratives, or RLCs, in five areas of the state (i.e., Southeast, Fox Valley, Eau Claire, Madison, and La Crosse). The purpose of the RLCs is to support faculty and practice nurses in working together to improve educational opportunities for students. Other activities include the creation of an orientation-mentoring program for nurses new to public health and the development of online courses for practicing public health nurses. “Public Health Nursing Scope and Standards and core population-based public health nursing competencies are national standards,” Zahner notes. “These standards will be used in the development of core curricula content, orientation, and continuing education modules. The RLCs will tailor their work to the health needs and interests of agencies and schools in that region and will share their activities with other areas of the state via conferences as well as the LEAP Project Web site.” The LEAP project, Zahner explains, is really a leap forward for Wisconsin’s public health system. “It is positioned to improve the skills of nurses in local, state, and tribal public health departments and of nursing students and faculty in nursing education programs in all areas of Wisconsin.” Patricia Flatley Brennan, PhD, RN, FAAN Professor of Nursing Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering School of Nursing faculty researcher Patricia Flatley Brennan, PhD, RN, FAAN, heads a statewide faculty development program called Wisconsin Technology Enhanced Collaborative Nursing Education, or WI-TECNE. Also funded by the HRSA, the project is designed to build a motivated cadre of nursing faculty in Wisconsin who are equipped with the knowledge and skills to use simulated learning, informatics, and telehealth across curricula. The project benefits nursing education in many ways, Brennan notes. “It makes better use of UW systems resources, inspires high-tech training throughout the state, and motivates nurses to incorporate technology in their practice.”        The School of Nursing will work together with sister schools across the UW System to expand nursing informatics content within the nursing discipline. Over a five-year period, each of the five nursing campuses will contribute to the training of approximately 150 WI-TECNE faculty scholars, who will learn technology-enhanced teaching approaches via brown-bag meetings, self-study methods, and on-site conferences. Each campus has chosen its training focus based on strength of resources. The UW-Madison will focus on telehealth and informatics; UW-Eau Claire on mechanical simulators, UW-Oshkosh on virtual simulations, UW-Milwaukee on problem-based case learning, and UW-Green Bay on e-learning. An innovative feature of WI-TECNE is the use of electronic learning portfolios for monitoring self-directed learning. “The e-portfolio is a great tool for faculty development,” Brennan says. “It’s a new approach to self-directed learning where the learner not only identifies goals, but can keep a record of what he or she develops and uses in reaching those goals—that is, new course materials, handouts, … it’s like creating an evidence base.” According to Pamela Scheibel, MS, RN, the project’s co-director, the initiative will strengthen nursing education within the state and, by extension, “create gains in patient safety and health care quality by ensuring that nurses are well-prepared to use information technologies in support of patient care.” For more information about the LEAP Project, contact, Marilyn Haynes-Brokopp, MS, RN, BC (608-263-9190; haynesbrokop@wisc.edu). For information regarding WI-TECNE, contact Pam Scheibel, MS, RN (608-263-5199; scheibel@wisc.edu).