California has a shortage of trained nurses and the demand for nurses is expected to greatly outpace supply over the next two decades. The INRP provides increasing access to educational opportunities and serving broader constituencies by preparing the target audience of internationally educated nurses to be qualified and successful in California and supporting their integration into the health care workforce.
INRP objectives include the following:
- Providing a pathway to increase the number of qualified nurses available to meet workforce demand.
- Ensuring internationally trained nurses have the appropriate language proficiency, cultural competency, academic knowledge, and clinical experience necessary to discharge the duties of a registered nurse in California guaranteeing public safety.
- Integrating an in-person clinical orientation and skills assessment with high quality summer online didactic content and concurrent clinical placements.
- Evaluating the impact of the INRP on addressing the need for trained nurses and its contribution to diversity in the nursing profession.
The INRP pilot program of Summer 2019 included 6 internationally-trained nurses that completed an application process that included a personal interview, skills assessment, and medication competency testing prior to being accepted into the program. They completed a 2-unit online maternal nursing didactic course with a concurrent maternal clinical course to meet their BRN-identified nursing education deficiencies.
Outcomes of the INRP include increasing the number and diversity of qualified registered nurses in the state of California that provide safe, high-quality maternal care. Completion data, NCLEX test results, placement data, and qualitative analysis of the impact of the program will be part of the overall program evaluation and faculty research efforts.