Building a Nursing Workforce for the 21st Century

Today, as health-care reform begins expanding health-care coverage and access and as our population ages, we face a significant nursing shortage.To address the challenge of educating enough nurses with the skill sets required for the 21st century, the Center to Champion Nursing in America (CCNA), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the U.S. Employment andTraining Administration, and the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration cosponsored two national Nursing Education Capacity Summits. This article provides the national view of the initiatives resulting from the summits and further explores the challenges in nursing education and nursing practice to ensure enough well-prepared nurses for the future.