Practice Team
Strengthening Nursing Practice to Build a Culture of Health in WV
Recommendation #1 Modernize Health Policies to Remove Scope-of-practice Barriers.
Advance practice registered nurses should be able to practice to the full extent of their education and training.
Leader: Dr. Toni DiChiacchio, APRN, FNP, BC, Assistant Dean, Faculty Practice & Community Engagement at West Virginia University
Project: Increase access to healthcare by advanced practice nurses through work with grassroots organizations to update legislative barriers to practice specifically for Advance Practice Nurses (APRNs)
Accomplishments: Partnered with WV Nurses Association, AARP, and other organizations to successfully pass HB 4334 in 2016. The legislation removed the restrictive written collaborative agreement requirement (after 3 years of practice) and permitted the signing of legal documents such as death certificates and others. Continuing on, successfully passed other legislation (HB 4175 in 2017, HB 2531 in 2019, numerous executive orders in 2020 related to the COVID pandemic and in 2022, HB 214) which retire onerous restrictions, modernize language related to APRN practice, prescribing, and reimbursement.
Members: Members include nurses from each Senatorial District in WV, AARP, West Virginians for Affordable Healthcare, Healthy Kids and Families Coalition, and others.
Recommendation #3 Improve Retention & Quality through Transition to Practice Models
State boards of nursing, accreditation bodies, the federal government, and health care organizations should take action to support nurses’ completion of a transition-to-practice program (nurse residency) after they have completed a pre-licensure or advanced practice degree program or when they are transitioning into new clinical practice areas.
Leader: Mary Fanning, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, Director, Nursing Administration, and Magnet Program Director, WVU Healthcare System
Project: Improve nurse retention, intent to stay, and the graduate nurse experience, particularly in rural hospitals through research and the creation of an online Nurse Transition to Practice and Preceptor Courses
Accomplishments: Conducted and published a research project on Transition to Practice (TTP) Programs in WV. Teams designed and wrote the curriculum for an online TTP Course.
Building a Culture of Health
Faith Community Nursing Project
Leader: Angel Smothers, DNP, APRN, FNP[ML1] -BC, WVU School of Nursing.
Project: Develop and support a Faith Community Nursing Toolkit and Network to expand the availability of community nursing resources in every WV county and provide resources and networking to support nurses initiating Health Ministries.
Accomplishments: An online FCN Toolkit and Directory Team Members: Angie Gray, Joy Buck, Angel Smothers, Donna Riffle, Laure Marino, Aila Accad
Leader: Cheryl Vega, RN
Project: Improve students and family health through delivering wellness curricula in elementary and middle schools by nurse volunteers.
Accomplishments: Project launched in Winter 2018 with lessons on hand hygiene/ coughing/sneezing and car seat safety. to reduce the incidence of winter colds and flu.
Nursing Workforce Summit Retention & Recruitment Action Team
Leaders: Dr. Mary Fanning, WVU Hospitals & Chris Thompson, CAMC
Projects: Nurse Retention Collaborative
Retention and Recruitment Toolkit
Bedside Nurse Retention Research Study
Team Members: See members on Workforce Action Teams
Nursing Education Team
The Education Team reorganized