About the founding of the Nursing Institute of West Central Ohio

Early leadership provided by Dr. Patricia Martin of Wright State University

From the very beginning, the watchword of the Nursing Institute of West Central Ohio has been collaboration. And that commitment to shared effort can be traced back, in large part, to the initial organizing push led by Patricia A. Martin, RN, Ph.D., dean of the Wright State University Miami Valley College of Nursing and Health. Around 2001 when the concept of a regional nursing institute for the Dayton area was first proposed, the main challenge facing nursing education programs and health care providers was the cyclic supply-demand mismatch between the number of nurses available in the region and the number of nurses needed. The first goals of the Nursing Institute were to build an interest in nursing, to educate the public about the nursing shortage, to graduate more nurses, to retain more nurses in the workplace, and to evaluate both the processes and the outcomes of the Institute’s activities. Dr. Martin said dedicated people were already working independently in silos on the problem at the time; what was needed was collaboration. “Most nurse administrators were sitting on multiple committees and participating in many projects to address the problem; however, no community plan or organizing force existed for the plethora of projects,” she said. 
The earliest work on developing the concept of an ongoing cooperative effort was done by Dr. Martin with a consulting organization owned and run by Jan Hillman. Ms. Hillman worked on a contract basis to research the various options and to tutor Dr. Martin in the art of acquiring federal appropriations. She also supported the development of program materials and logos and helped with organizing community meetings of stakeholders.
Dr. Martin identified stakeholders as individuals or organizations that are either directly or indirectly affected by either the implementation or the results of the project aimed at maintaining an appropriate local supply of well qualified nurses. Among possible partners were elected officials, employers, nursing education programs and other health care professionals. Also needed were resources such as funding, support, equipment and supplies, space, even non-financial kind of support like knowledge, access, and people.  Dr. Martin foresaw a collaborative effort in which no partner needed all the necessary resources, but all the resources needed had to be available to the partnership through at least one partner. Wright State University helped support the early effort by paying travel expenses associated with meeting with local and congressional stakeholders and potential partners.
For the proposed nursing institute to be successful, it was critical that all the partners be true collaborators, Dr. Martin said. True collaboration required that all the partners had a shared commitment to the same ultimate goal and were flexible enough to adjust their individual goals to fit the long-term aims of the institute. Another critical factor was diversity. “Diversity includes diversity in career plans; diversity in educational backgrounds; and diversity of gender, race, geographical borders, and culture,” she said. “Educators and service providers needed to find and embrace their commonality while respecting and celebrating our diversity.” Diversity among the partners helped ensure that a variety of perspectives and a depth and breadth of knowledge came to the table from the beginning.
In August 2005, Debi Sampsel was hired as the first Executive Director, and the strategic planning and work of the organization really got underway. The concept was a reality!
Congressman David Hobson, now retired, and Senator George Voinovich secured federal funds to make the Nursing Institute of West Central Ohio a reality, but the initial funding was just a first step. “Lots of times, you can find money for start-up, but from the beginning, consider if the money is going to still be there to continue the project,” Dr. Martin said. Many funding sources require applicants such as the Nursing Institute to be sustained through local sources at least to the basic operating level. After basic support has been established, then outside funding could be sought for needs such as buildings, equipment and to fund specific projects. Again collaboration was chosen as the model for sustaining the Nursing Institute. The Institute currently is supported primarily by a group of “Sustainability Partners”: Premier Health Partners, Sinclair Community College, Wright State University, and Graceworks Lutheran Services. Also important to the continuation of the Institute are its working partnerships with a wide range of nursing education programs, health care providers, technology companies, government agencies and other supporters.
In 2010, as the Sustainability Partners near the end of their initial commitments, the Institute’s mission to better balance regional supply and demand for Registered Nurses remains vital. However, given the economic downturn and the currently adequate supply of Registered Nurses in many areas, revisioning is necessary to avoid the old patterns of responding only to crises, and, instead to plan proactively for a future that best addresses the health care of citizens of West Central Ohio.