Creating flourishing health care communities

^{The Center for Flourishing Health Care Communities hosted a music therapy event earlier this year.}

The University of Minnesota School of Nursing and the University of Minnesota Rochester have partnered to provide a testing ground for developing innovative and realistic approaches to the state’s complex nursing and health care workforce challenge. The collaboration stems from the University’s system-wide MNtersections initiative aimed at optimizing health education to increase the pipeline of well-prepared health care workers and support student wellbeing.

One component of the partnership is the newly established Center for Flourishing Health Care Communities. The center is designed to integrate applied research, practice and education for nurses and other health professionals to increase the retention and recruitment of nurses in Minnesota. Led by School of Nursing Clinical Professor Sherry Chesak, PhD, RN, a nurse scientist with Mayo Clinic, the new center builds on the University’s strong relationship with Mayo Clinic as well as the Center for Nursing Equity and Excellence, a partnership between the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State that works with every nursing school in the state and is the Minnesota’s official nursing workforce center.

“For too long the focus related to workforce retention has been placed solely on providing individuals with tools that create resiliency and focused on individuals functioning in the status quo,” says Connie White Delaney, PhD, RN, FAAN, FACMI, FNAP, dean of the School of Nursing. “This initiative and center disrupts that approach by exploring transformation of our organizations and the health care ecosystem to enable our caregivers to flourish and prosper.”

The center's focus will begin by supporting students and faculty on the Rochester campus through programming and will later expand offerings to the larger health care community. The first Flourishing Health Care Forum was hosted earlier this year. The forums are a nexus of inspiration and connection for faculty and clinicians at the forefront of initiatives promoting flourishing in health care practice, education and research. Other center offerings include creative arts workshops for students that are designed to inspire students to actively engage with and apply flourishing concepts, fostering long term adoption of practices.

“This center is a deepening of the valuable partnership between the School of Nursing and UMR, with strong potential to support the long-term wellbeing of our future health care workforce. UMR continues to prepare our graduates to solve the grand health challenges of the 21st-century and address Minnesota’s dire health care workforce needs,” says University of Minnesota Rochester Chancellor Lori Carrell, PhD.

A physical space for the Center for Flourishing Health Care Communities will soon be added on the University of Minnesota Rochester campus. This space will be dedicated to creating a culture of flourishing among health care students, health care professionals, and the environments they learn and work in by discovering groundbreaking, creative approaches that foster inclusivity, resilience, and a thriving health care ecosystem.