Central Texas Healthcare Partnership offers subscription services to our Clinical Placement Software System. Current services are for nursing, surgical tech, and EMS students participating in clinical rotations. CTHP is constantly working to maximize clinical placement space in order to grow healthcare programs in the greater Austin area.

The Nursing Academic Practice Partnership (NAPP) Committee brings together industry and education to develop workforce strategies specific to Nursing.

Mission: Strengthen and support nursing education programs and practice readiness through effective partnerships between Central Texas Region nursing education programs and clinical practice settings, in order to effectively respond to the rapidly changing nursing workforce needs in Central Texas.

Purpose: To provide a forum for academic and clinical partners in the Central Texas region to share innovative ideas and problem-solving strategies, focusing on the development of a collaborative partnership model based on mutual goals, respect, and shared knowledge. 

Scope of Work:

• Implement Community Standards that meet/address quality and regulatory practice issues
• Bridge the gap from education to practice
• Integrate contemporary practice (competencies) for faculty/students into curricula
• Increase the number of nurses available to meet the nation’s growing health care needs
• Develop learning experiences to increase nursing students understanding of health equity, social determinants of health, and population health, while preparing them to incorporate that understanding into professional practice
• Optimize utilization of clinical placements and improve clinical experiences
• Encourage programs to augment and/or when appropriate, replace clinical rotations through innovative strategies and simulation usage
• Encourage a shift in clinical practicum focus from acute care models to care systems
• Identify resources to support committee scope
• Prepare strategies and support for our future nursing workforce in becoming prepared for disaster and public health emergency response

Within the NAPP workgroup, there are subcommittees established to work on priority projects identified by industry and education partners regarding nursing.

Ad Hoc Clinical Placement Opportunities Workgroup: Industry and Education partners come together during the Ad Hoc Clinical Placement Opportunities meetings to create solutions to clinical placement shortages. There are opportunities to share strategies, collaborate, and brainstorm new opportunities to address hard to fill clinical hours. This work is vital to the expansion of local nursing programs and will help increase future workforce. 

Ad Hoc Admissions Criteria Review Committee: Local nursing programs come together during the Ad Hoc Admissions Criteria Review Committee to address Admissions processes to Nursing Schools and strategies. The goal is to implement more holistic strategies to consider skills and experiences beyond just utilizing grades for admission scores.

Texas Tech School of Nursing applied for and received a grant to study the gaps in knowledge between graduating nursing school and starting their job as a Registered Nurse. The study had many findings outlined by both industry, students, and graduates. With this new information, CTHP helped to sponsor the Bridging the Gaps education modules to help fill in information needed for recent graduates entering the workplace. Due to the success of the modules all nursing students participating in clinicals at Ascension and St. David’s are required to complete the first 4 modules before their rotation start date.

Through the NAPP workgroup, industry was able to identify a shortage of Perioperative nurses in our community. Perioperative nurses work in the operating room and serve a different function than many of their nursing coworkers. Unfortunately, many nursing students receive little to no experience inside the OR due to restrictions and the risk of compromising the sterile environment.

Because of this shortage, NAPP created a strategy to help provide additional resources and training for Perioperative Nursing, taking industry needs and applying advanced curriculum to better prepare our students to be ready for the workforce. 

The Targeted Occupations List and Career Planning pages can help clients identify the best job opportunities in the Austin-Travis County region.