Revisiting the Teaching Nursing Home Initiative Partners Reflect on Progress in Annual Grant Review

One June 21, Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) Aging Team staff and project partners for the Revisiting the Teaching Nursing Home Initiative convened virtually to reflect on the past year's efforts as part of the annual grant review site visit with lead project funder The John A. Hartford Foundation. The site visit provided an opportunity to showcase progress on the grant during the first year and to look ahead at goals for ongoing collaboration between nursing homes and schools of nursing during year two of the grant.

Hosted by The John A. Hartford Foundation President Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN; and Senior Program Officer Amy Berman, RN, LHD (hon), FAAN, the four-hour presentation was facilitated by JHF COO and Chief Program Officer and RTNH Primary Investigator Nancy Zionts, MBA. Thirty-one project participants joined in the virtual meeting, including representatives from participating schools of nursing and nursing facilities, as well as representatives from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, and Pennsylvania Health Funders Collaborative.

The site visit included highlights of work in year one from representatives of the participating schools of nursing and nursing facilities, including: UPMC Canterbury Place, The Willows Presbyterian SeniorCare, and the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing in the Western Region; Centre Care Rehabilitation and Wellness and the Ross and Carol Nece College of Nursing at the Pennsylvania State University in the Central Region; Wesley Enhanced Living Mainline and the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in the Eastern Region. They shared their experiences on establishing strong linkages; reaching residents; developing a team to achieve maximum impact; incorporating Age-Friendly Health Systems within nursing facilities; the impact of COVID-19 on nursing facilities, student placement from schools of nursing, and the RTNH project; policy opportunities within nursing education and nursing facilities; and goals for the second year.

Priorities for year two are to continue to increase student engagement, grow strategic partnerships, disseminate learnings from the project, and identify opportunities to address workforce challenges such as pay parity within nursing facilities, loan forgiveness for students pursuing careers in nursing facilities, and increased exposure for students to career opportunities within skilled nursing.

An external grant evaluator provided feedback on the progress to date. Initial reactions and recommendations from the evaluator and the team at The John A. Hartford Foundation were extremely positive and supportive. A final report on the site visit will incorporate input from Berman and the evaluator.