NM Nursing Diversity Partnership (NMNDP)

The New Mexico Nursing Diversity Partnership program (NMNDP) will increase the diversity and pool of New Mexico’s nursing workforce to better meet the state’s unique and pressing health care needs.

Con Alma Health Foundation and the University of New Mexico announced a partnership that has been chosen as one of eleven nationwide to receive funding from Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future (PIN).  PIN invests in local partnerships that create innovative model projects that can be tested and, if successful, shared nationally.  The 18-month PIN grant of $75,000 will be matched by $75,000 in local and regional funding.
Dolores E. Roybal, executive director of Con Alma Health Foundation, explained that Hispanic populations have disproportionately increased rates of diabetes, obesity and teen pregnancy, thus creating a great need for more Hispanic and Native American nurses to provide culturally competent care.

“Nurses are front-line providers of health care, yet, while more than half of New Mexicans are Hispanic or Native American, fewer than 10 percent of nurses are Hispanic and less than one percent are Native American,” Roybal said.

The PIN grant will provide needed data on New Mexico’s nursing workforce according to Deborah Walker MSN, RN, project director. “Analysis of available workforce data from individual nurses and their employers will form the basis for evidence-based workforce planning,” said Walker.

The goal of the New Mexico Nursing Diversity Partnership program is closely aligned with the recommendations of the recent Institute of Medicine report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, which seeks to prepare the nursing workforce to meet the needs of America’s health care system and the patients it serves, and ensure an adequate supply of nurses for a growing, aging population.

Four Project Components

The project has four components, explained Kathy Lopez-Bushnell, project consultant, Lead Nursing Organization and a clinical nurse researcher at UNM Hospital:

  • Survey Hispanic and Native American nurses regarding their needs for education, improvement of nursing practice, and development of support and leadership skills.
  • Establishment of a Hispanic Nurses Association in New Mexico.  There is currently no Hispanic Nurses Association in NM;
  • Work with the existing Native American Nurses Association in New Mexico; and
  • Develop a database of all Hispanic and Native American nurses in NM to support outreach efforts.

Project Staff

  • Kathy Lopez-Bushnell, Project Consultant, Lead Nursing Organization and a clinical nurse researcher at UNM Hospital
  • Dolores E. Roybal, Executive Director, Con Alma Health Foundation
  • Geoff Shuster, Evaluator

Partners Investing in Nursing (PIN)

The PIN program is a multi-year, multi-million dollar national investment in America’s nursing workforce to prepare nurses with the skills needed to serve an older and more diverse population. Led by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Northwest Health Foundation, Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future supports the capacity, involvement and leadership of local foundations to advance the nursing profession in their own communities. Now in its sixth year of funding, PIN leverages $14 million in grants by RWJF with more than $14 million in matching funding.

This new funding creates a new total of 61 PIN projects in more than 37 states and collectively, collaborating with more than 500 partners.  There are over 220 partners that provide local funding, including private foundations, hospitals and health systems, workforce investment agencies, economic development programs, banks, private industry and individuals.

“All health care is local, and nurses are the cornerstone of our health care system. We need community solutions that address the challenges facing a changing health care system and that utilize local and regional experience,” said Judith Woodruff, J.D., director of workforce development at the Northwest Health Foundation and program director for Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future. “The New Mexico Nursing Diversity Partnership is in the forefront of communities nationwide helping to create a well-prepared nursing workforce.

Project DIVERSITY

NMNDP is the second PIN grant that Con Alma Health Foundation has received.  The first was for Project Diversity, a nursing pipeline collaborative with UNM to increase the number of ethnically diverse nursing students.  Read a final report here.  Project DIVERSITY was featured in PIN Point, the newsletter for Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future.

For more information about Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future, visit www.partnersinnursing.org.