National League for Nursing Signs on as Founding Member-Sponsor of IOM Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education

NLN Joins Roster of Professional Organizations Partnering to Advance Health Education Worldwide

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New York, NY — February 2, 2012 — The National League for Nursing has announced its alliance with the Institute of Medicines new Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education. Still in formation, the IOM global forum will consist of at least two dozen member-sponsors - professional organizations like the NLN, as well as foundations, government agencies, and allied health care corporations.

The forums purpose, as conceived by the IOM, is to bring together leaders at the highest levels of public service, academia, industry, and the non-profit world to facilitate discussion about and foster ideas for evolution in the education of health professionals to meet the demands of the dynamic, interdisciplinary 21st-century global health environment.

"The NLN is honored to be at the table with colleagues from across the varied health education and health care disciplines to re-imagine the future of health professional education," said NLN CEO Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN. Dr. Malone was one of the external reviewers of a highly regarded IOM-Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) report released in the fall of 2010, "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health," that served to inspire the creation of the IOM global forum.

Another trigger for the forum was a complementary report, released around the same time by the Lancet Commission, "Health Professionals for a New Century: Transforming Education to Strengthen Health Systems in an Interdependent World." The commissions research was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the China Medical Board.

Two Lancet report commissioners, Jordan Cohen, MD and Afaf Meleis, PhD, FAAN, will co-chair the new forum. Dr. Cohen is on the faculty of the George Washington University School of Medicine and Dr. Meleis is dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

Approached by the IOM last spring, the Gates Foundation and China Medical Board have agreed to become member-sponsors of the IOM global forum. Among the IOM global forums priorities will be to consider best practices for implementing instructional and institutional recommendations contained within both the IOM-RWJF and Lancet Commission documents. The work of the IOM global forum, it is anticipated, will be accomplished through workshops held several times a year and video-conferencing with academic partners abroad.

Additional support is coming from the Josiah H. Macy Foundation and Atlantic Philanthropies along with funds from other member-sponsors that have committed at least $10,000 for the next three years.

Editors and reporters: For interview opportunities, please contact NLN chief communications officer, Karen R. Klestzick at 212-812-0376 or kklestzick@nln.org.

Dedicated to excellence in nursing, the National League for Nursing is the premier organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education. The NLN offers professional development, networking opportunities, testing services, nursing research grants, and public policy initiatives to its 35,000 individual and 1,200 institutional members. NLN members represent nursing education programs across the spectrum of higher education and health care organizations and agencies.