NNCC to Develop Training Program for Clinical Nurse Faculty Across HHS Region 3

The Pennsylvania Action Coalition (PA-AC), a program of the National Nurse-Led Care Consortium (NNCC), is thrilled to announce their new collaboration with the Geisinger School of Nursing to address nursing faculty and instructor shortages by creating Nurse Education, Practice, Quality, and Retention Clinical Faculty and Preceptor Academies (NEPQR-CFPAs). The collaborative will execute the program with funds awarded by the U.S Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), CDFA#93.359.

The purpose of the NEPQR-CFPA is to take steps to fill the faculty/instructor gap in schools of nursing and increase nursing workforce retention by leveraging staff nurses to participate as skilled preceptors and clinical instructors. The PA-AC and Geisinger, alongside numerous academic and health system partners, will build academic-clinical-community partnerships that develop and implement comprehensive and self-guided nurse education training curricula. The project will focus on HHS Region 3 (including Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C) to build a formal nurse education training curriculum to train clinical faculty and preceptors.

To develop this curriculum, the PA-AC will assemble an Advisory Board that is reflective of diverse practice areas, academic pathways, geographic location, and populations served. The advisory board will oversee curriculum development and determine metrics for review. The PA-AC will work with Advisory Board stakeholders to ensure that the course content is engaging, thoughtfully articulated, and caters to a wide audience. In Year Two of the project, Geisinger employees across the health system will pilot and evaluate the curriculum. The Advisory Board will use lesson learns to prepare the program for implementation across HHS Region 3 in Year Three.

The PA-AC will work with the Advisory Board and its extensive network to foster dialogue around the program’s goals and outcomes, promote the implementation of the program, and showcase the project as a model to bolster the nursing workforce. Ultimately, the purpose of the collaboration is to work across the region to improve the training, preparation, and availability of clinical nursing faculty and preceptors to better support nurses in advancing healthcare.

The PA-AC is currently recruiting members of the NEPQR-CFPA Advisory Board that are reflective of diverse practice areas, academic pathways, geographic locations, and populations served in HHS Region 3. You can apply to become a member here. Please reach out to Jennifer (Horn) Gimbel, Director of the PA-AC, at with any questions.