10th Anniversary of Dean’s Round Table Initiative

This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the Dean’s Round Table Initiative (DRT), a unique partnership of Cleveland Clinic, 14 Ohio schools of nursing and three other healthcare facilities in Northeast Ohio.

The organizations came together with the goal of creating a regional strategy designed to address both the nursing and nursing faculty shortages that threatened to negatively impact the health of the community.

Recognized in 2010 as one of two winning entries in the Magnet Honors at the National Magnet Conference® in Phoenix, Arizona, the DRT is a form of institutional collaboration that prepares nurses to assume adjunct faculty roles in regional schools while maintaining their primary roles.

The faculty initiative:

• Identifies, recruits and supports area nurses who may be interested in teaching
• Develops and maintains databases to match nurses with teaching opportunities
• Enrolls nurses into the comprehensive database application
• Offers ongoing development programs

Tool created for the perfect match

The core of the program includes the Faculty Allocation Tool, an online database and faculty allocation that matches nurses with open positions in the schools of nursing. This helps schools increase capacity and provides many bedside nurses with opportunities for professional and leadership development.

Administrators from participating nursing schools post information regarding courses available for teaching. The Faculty Allocation Tool compares data entered by nurses and nursing schools and assigns matches. To date, more than 400 nurses have entered profiles into the database and hundreds of placements have been secured.

“The DRT has made tremendous strides to better the relationship between nursing practice and education in the community,” says Joan Kavanagh, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, Associate Chief Nursing Officer of Nursing Education and Professional Development at Cleveland Clinic.

“As we celebrate the 10th anniversary, we are more determined than ever to work together for the health of the public and the academic success of nursing,” she adds.

Save the date

In celebration of the 10th anniversary, an event will be held on May 11, 2015, featuring Patricia E. Benner, PhD, RN, FAAN. The event also marks the 5th anniversary of Dr. Benner’s work with the Preparation for the Professions series from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, which resulted in her best-selling book, Educating Nurses, a call for radical transformation in nursing education. Packed with recommendations for revolutionary changes for administrators and faculty in nursing schools and programs, the book explores key issues for the future of nursing.

Stay tuned for more details regarding the May 11 event.