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Pilot Programs

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Distance Learning

Distance Learning in Nursing is an internet-based, on-line shared learning experience between graduate students from Erebouni College in Yerevan, Armenia and students enrolled at the University of Nebraska Medical Center School of Nursing. This project was initiated in FY02 to test the feasibility of distance learning as a vehicle to further enhance the capacity of professional nursing through faculty development and enhanced educational programs.
The aim of the project is to have ten baccalaureate prepared nurse faculty from the Erebouni College complete six graduate courses from UNMC, primarily online. Courses that the students have completed include: “Advanced Practice in the Health Care Delivery System”,  “Nursing, Health and Culture in Organizations and Communities”,  and “Curriculum Design for the Future.”  The project ended in September 2004, with the end of AIHA’s program in Armenia.

Nursing Quality Improvement Initiative

Magnet Recognition Program aims to create centers of excellence and validate high standards of nursing health care. These standards, developed by the American Nurse Credentialing Council of the American Nurses Association (ANA), are a mark of excellence in nursing in the US. The AIHA program provides intensive developmental assistance to the selected institutions that will enable them to meet the standards. The program is being implemented by AIHA in collaboration with the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) of University of Pennsylvania, with assistance from American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and their Institute for Research, Education and Consultation (IREC) as well as volunteer US partners with former experience working with these institutions and countries. At the end of the project an evaluation will be conducted by the CHOPR to determine whether the project produced significant impact on the quality standards as measured by higher levels of nursing and patient satisfaction in the hospital, and hence merits replication in other hospitals across the NIS region.

Four graduated hospital partners including: Emergency Scientific Medical Center and Erebouni Hospital in Armenia, and Central Clinical Hospital and Sokolov (formerly Hospital No.122) in Russia, were chosen to participate in this project.

In addition to the volunteer US partners, four current US Magnet hospitals donated staff time and other in-kind contributions in order to advance and strengthen this project. These “sister Magnet hospitals” include: Aurora Health Care partnered with Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow; North Shore University Hospital partnered with Erebouni Medical Center; Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital partnered with Sokolov; and Wake Forest University Baptist Medical center partnered with Emergency Scientific Medical Center. They have assisted the chosen NIS hospitals and their US Principal Advisors in developing policies and procedures corresponding to Magnet status.

While the Magnet Commission  decided not to consider applications for official Magnet status from non-English speaking countries, including Russia and Armenia, they elected to recognize the four demonstration sites with Journey of Excellence Awards. In September 2004 the hospitals participating in the hospital quality improvement program received the awards in ceremonies at each of the four hospitals. This series of events concluded a three year successful effort by the hospitals to develop evidence-based nursing practice standards based on ANCC’s Magnet Recognition Program. The ceremonies were attended by the AIHA volunteer nurse advisors, representatives from the US magnet sister hospital partners; Aurora Health Care (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), North Shore Medical Center (Manhasset, New York), Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (New Brunswick, New Jersey), and Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) as well health ministry leaders from each country.

Pilot Magnet Hospital Sites and Their Partners

Initiative Coordinator/Principal Researcher: Linda Aiken RN, PhD
Management and Research Consultant: Robert Hernandez

Russia

Central Clinical Hospital (CCH)
Principal Advisor: Sharon Weinstein, MS, CRNA, RN, FAAN; President of Corelimited, Inc.
Sister Magnet Hospital: Aurora Health Care
Sokolov
Principal Advisor: Jane Younger, MSN, RN
Sister Magnet Hospital: Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital

Armenia

Erebuni University
Principal Advisor: Salpy Akaragian, MN
US Advisor: Eleanor Howell, PhD
Sister Magnet Hospital: North Shore University Hospital
Emergency Scientific Medical Center
Principal Advisor: Salpy Akaragian, MN
US Advisor: Eleanor Howell, PhD
Sister Magnet Hospital: Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center



Updated on March 22, 2005

 



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