Career Pathway Strategies That Reduce Barriers for Nontraditional Nursing Students.

Everyone recognizes the current nursing scarcity, but not everyone recognizes the need for a diverse nursing workforce to adequately serve patients whose social determinants of health include racism, racial bias, and reduced access to care. This article explores how building innovative partnerships between health-care providers and nursing institutions to advance the incumbent workforce can increase capacity and reduce staff burnout. Such partnerships can drive a culture of employee engagement through the development of career pathways while reducing barriers for nontraditional nursing students in advancing their credentials. This article reports on a strategy to address the nursing shortage and to increase the diversity of the nursing workforce through a licensed vocational nurse-to-registered nurse partnership between a school of nursing and a Federally Qualified Health Center.