title: Filling the gaps: immersing student nurses in specialty nursing and professional associations.
abstract: The national nursing shortage demands innovative strategies to attract students to the nursing profession. This article provides a potential solution for recruiting and retaining nurses for specialty areas of nursing as well as professional nursing associations by pairing student nurses with professional nurses who belong to nursing associations. An immersion program such as the one described in this article provides a strategy that addresses the nursing work force shortage and professional association membership. The experiential knowledge gained through this type of program may advance the profession throughout the country.
authors.affiliation: West Penn Allegheny Health System, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. avioral@wpahs.org
authors.forename: Anna N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Vioral
mesh_terms: D002321:Career Choice; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008611:Mentors; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D009859:Oncology Nursing / Q000193:education*; D012956:Societies, Nursing; D013338:Students, Nursing