Who We Are                                                          

We are a group of state nursing workforce entities that have coalesced to support the advancement of new as well as existing state level nursing workforce initiatives and to share best practices in nursing workforce research, workforce planning, workforce development, and formulation of workforce policy.  We share information in three major ways: through publications, via annual conferences beginning in 2003, and by way of this virtual network, beginning in 2005.

What exactly is a state nursing workforce entity? While organizational structures and funding sources vary, each state initiative seeks to alter the ways nursing has traditionally responded to cyclical shortages.  The focus is being transformed toward long-range strategic planning, involving the collection of supply and demand data that allows the identification of imbalances between supply and demand and for forecasting efforts that drive nursing workforce development and policy recommendations.  The first state-level nursing workforce entity was created by statute in North Carolina in 1991. The Robert Wood Johnson Colleagues in Caring: Collaboratives for Nursing Workforce Development (1996-2002) created funding and direction for expanding state and regional entities for nurse workforce planning and development.  Today, there are over 30 such initiatives.  Click  here to learn about these initiatives.