Over the past 15 years, the Connecticut League for Nursing (CLN) and The Connecticut Center for Nursing Workforce, Inc. (CCNW) have been the primary organizations in Connecticut spearheading the “day to day” engagement of Connecticut’s healthcare workforce stakeholders; securing funding for various healthcare workforce initiatives; negotiating the first license agreement for access to the Sentinel Network; and raising the sponsorship dollars to host statewide Nursing and Healthcare Workforce Summits held in 2007, 2019 and 2020 with an event being planned for Spring 2023.  Marcia Proto, Executive Director of both the CLN & CCNW, has been the catalyst by engaging her knowledge, relationships, and statewide and nationwide professional networks to do this work.
 
In Connecticut, the CCNW & CLN have been the sole source to actively engaged in “real time” data collection to better understand the healthcare workforce.  After identifying the education pipelines for various nursing roles, the current supply of nurses within the state and determining the demand for these various roles, the CLN held its first statewide summit in 2007 to understand, identify and address the challenges to expanding the number of nursing graduates at all levels within the state to meet employer demand. 
 
In 2013, the CCNW was created and has built relationships, networks, strategic partnership and aligned work initiatives to create a multi-sector collaboration with stakeholders to assess nursing and non-nursing healthcare roles.  Relationships were cultivated with key agencies within the State of Connecticut including: Department of Labor, Department of Public Health, Department of Workforce Competitiveness, Connecticut Apprenticeship Program, the State Board of Nursing Examiners and the Office of Health Strategy.  In addition, strategic partnerships were established with the five Regional Workforce Development Boards, and the (5) state healthcare trade associations including:  The Connecticut Association for Health Care at Home, LeadingAgeCT, The Connecticut Association of Healthcare Facilities, The Connecticut Hospital Association, and The Connecticut Assisted Living Association.
 
A critical element of CCNW’s success to actively engage the above stakeholders was the decision to license a Healthcare Demand Model called the Sentinel Network. The Sentinel Network began as an initiative of Washington State’s Health Workforce Council, conducted collaboratively by Washington’s Workforce Board and the University of Washington’s Center for Health Workforce Studies.  Connecticut was the first state to license this model which assesses the demand for over (45) key employee roles needed in all healthcare settings, sectors and organizations within Connecticut. Data captured from (97) providers in May 2019 and then (67) providers in November 2019 comprise the content of our Connecticut Data Portal which can be accessed via www.ct.sentinelnetwork.org. 
These data can be sorted by “healthcare setting”, specific role that is in demand or by geographic regions.  The richness, accessibility and user-friendly nature of this data portal is “open source” and can be accessed and utilized by anyone needing “real-time” demand data in Connecticut. This is a first-of-its-kind statewide healthcare workforce demand initiative that informs healthcare employers, educators, state agencies, policymakers, citizens and others about the status and current workforce needs.
 
As a result of this focused work to engage these stakeholders, our work culminated in the CCNW hosting its first Statewide Nursing and Healthcare Workforce Summit on July 9, 2019 bringing national experts, senior workforce researchers to share significant trends and possible solutions to stabilize and address Connecticut healthcare workforce. In this Summit, we identified that the keys to sustainability lie in:

• establishing a healthy workplace culture,
• engaging in professional development for supervisors and managers,
• undertaking transparent and critical conversations regarding appropriate and novel staffing models to meet current and future staffing needs in all healthcare roles, and
• the need to endorse effective hiring, selection and onboarding models to foster retention of top talent.

 
Highlights from the July 9, 2019 Summit can be found by visiting:  https://www.ctcenterfornursingworkforce.com/healthcare-workforce-summit.html.
 
Moreover, CCNW will host is 2nd Statewide Healthcare Workforce Summit in April 2023 to share updated healthcare education and workforce data and highlight promising practices in the areas of Workforce Planning, Recruitment, Retention and Cross-Sector Collaboration.
 
Contact Information:
 
Marcia B. Proto, M.Ed, CAS
Executive Director
CT League for Nursing & The Connecticut Center for Nursing Workforce, Inc.
110 Washington Avenue, lower level
North Haven, CT 06473
203-494-1121
[email protected]
www.CTCenterForNursingWorkforce.com
www.CTNursingGuide.com

​We have some exciting news to share! 
 
As of June 30, 2022, The Connecticut League for Nursing, Inc. (CLN) has officially merged with The Connecticut Center for Nursing Workforce, Inc. (CCNW) and we began our new fiscal year – July 1, 2022- with ONE entity moving forward!   
The Connecticut Center for Nursing Workforce, Inc. (CCNW) is the surviving entity!
 
We will continue to operate from our current offices located at:
110 Washington Avenue, lower level, North Haven, CT 06473 & phone remains: 203-691-5013.
All of our contact information will remain the same, except our email addresses will change. The convention for those address is [firstname]@CTCenterforNursingWorkforce.com. We ask that you update your records accordingly.

CCNW Staff:

• Anne DePalma, Operations Manager    [email protected]
• Peggy Mallick, Program Manager        [email protected]
• Marcia Proto, Executive Director     ​ [email protected]

As for the other activities of the CCNW, the work of the CLN will be continued including:

• Council of Deans & Directors,
• Approved Provider Unit to award nursing CEs – CCNW Program Committee,
• Faculty-led Online Education Programs/Courses,
• Annual RN Student Day,
• Background Checks and Drug Screening,
• The Guide to Nursing Education- www.CTNursingGuide.com,
• Online Student Clinical Placement System,
• Nursing Education & Supply Data- Collection, Reporting and Publications, and
• Continuing our Voice of Nursing Workforce & Education at the monthly CT State Board of Examiners for Nursing meetings

I am strongly optimistic that internally and externally; CCNW will be stronger, bolder, and nimbler to proactively address the nursing workforce and education opportunities that present themselves to us in Connecticut and beyond!
 
Thank you all for your trust, support, and engagement over these many years!  If you have any questions about this exciting news, please contact me at 203-494-1121 or via email at [email protected].