From Classrooms to Clinics

NEMOURS IS NURTURING DIVERSITY IN HEALTHCARE

BY MARGARET E. LAFASHIA DNP, MBA, RN, NPD-BC

The Nemours Workforce Pipeline Development Program (WPDP) is an initiative designed to increase diversity in nursing. The program offers work-based opportunities to teens and young adults while addressing the nationwide nursing shortage and improving workforce opportunities in Delaware. The Nemours Children’s WPDP provides essential training opportunities to high school students, exposing them to pediatric nursing early in their educational and career exploration pathway. The project is creating a diverse nursing workforce pipeline, which will advance patient access to culturally relevant care, resulting in improved care and health outcomes.

The purpose of the WPDP is to:

• Recruit and provide clinical opportunities for underrepresented nursing students to increase workforce diversity

• Introduce students to a pediatric nursing career and hire them to fill various roles

• Develop a program model that can be replicated and expanded in other communities

The project launched in Delaware in 2021 by providing pediatric clinical training for nursing assistant (NA) and medical assistant (MA) students at area vocational technical high schools in Delaware.

As the only children’s hospital in the state, Nemours Children’s Hospital works across the state and the region to strengthen the pediatric workforce through work-based learning experiences and partnerships with key community stakeholders. Nemours Children’s has been working with Hodgson Vocational Technical High School since fall 2021 to develop a variety of pediatric-specific, work-based learning opportunities for their students. Their nursing technology program prepares students to develop the skills needed for a successful career in the health care industry through classroom study, laboratory practice, and clinical experiences. The project provides a unique opportunity for Hodgson students to work in a pediatric setting as part of their clinical experience.

In addition to Hodgson, the program has expanded to now include NA and MA students from Delcastle Technical High School, Saint George’s Technical School, and Howard High School of Technology. The project currently supports 16 MA co-op students working at more than 10 primary care sites, and eight NA co-op students on our acute care units.

Feedback from the Nemours staff who work with these students is overwhelmingly positive—the students are engaged, willing to learn and enthusiastic, and they possess soft skills that are fundamental to these roles, such as reliability, punctuality, and adaptability. One of the Nemours nurse managers who works with the students says, “We’ve had such remarkable success with the students that we’ve had on our unit. To see them develop as potential health care professionals is just amazing.”

Margaret E. LaFashia DNP, MBA, RN, NPD-BC is the director of workforce partnership development at Nemours Children’s Health.