Applications closed. Check back soon for updates on our new cohort!
For direct care nurses, this team-based, 18-month program is focused on advancing nurse satisfaction, retention and healthy work environments through in-person and virtual experiential learning workshops.
About the AACN CSI Academy
AACN Clinical Scene Investigator (CSI) Academy is a hospital-based, experiential nurse leadership and innovation training program designed to empower direct care nurses as clinician leaders and change agents whose initiatives can measurably improve patient, staffing and fiscal outcomes.
Through in-person and virtual experiential learning workshops, each team identifies, plans, implements, measures and sustains an innovation project that directly addresses an issue in their work environment – resulting in positive outcomes for patients/families, nurses, units and healthcare organizations.
Through in-person and virtual experiential learning workshops, each team identifies, plans, implements, measures and sustains an innovation project that directly addresses an issue in their work environment – resulting in positive outcomes for patients/families, nurses, units and healthcare organizations.
Current Opportunity: Nursing Workforce Solutions
The program will include six geographic cohorts, each consisting of ten teams, for a total of 60 teams. Each team will be made up of 3-4 direct care nurses, and all team members are expected to attend every program session. The sessions will be delivered through a combination of in-person and virtual workshops over an 18-month period.
The curriculum is designed around leadership principles, quality management tools and implementation science. The program includes educational sessions via in-person workshops and web conferencing, ongoing consultation and mentoring, a midpoint project presentation and a final project presentation.
The Nursing Workforce Solutions program will also include a train-the-trainer workshop to assist participants with sustaining and scaling projects to other units within an organization.
The curriculum is designed around leadership principles, quality management tools and implementation science. The program includes educational sessions via in-person workshops and web conferencing, ongoing consultation and mentoring, a midpoint project presentation and a final project presentation.
The Nursing Workforce Solutions program will also include a train-the-trainer workshop to assist participants with sustaining and scaling projects to other units within an organization.
Fast Facts
- Structure and Duration: Mix of in-person and virtual interactive learning sessions over 18 months.
- Instruction Delivery: Program curriculum delivered by CSI faculty and supported with additional mentoring and consultation
- Participants: Teams of direct care nurses and nurse leaders who serve as their coaches.
- Innovation Project: Teams select the project they want to work on that will improve their work environment. This project will be integrated into program curriculum for hands-on application of new learning.
Key Aim is to Drive Measurable Improvements in:
- Nurse retention
- Job satisfaction
- Patient outcomes such as lengths of stay, hospital-acquired conditions and never events
- The health of the work environment
- Overall workplace culture (burnout and moral distress)
Program Timeline
Applications Close2/21/25
Selected Participants NotifiedFirst week of March
Cohort Launch PreparationsFebruary to May 2025
Program LaunchesCohort 1 (3 geographic regions): June 2025 – December 2026
Cohort 2 (3 geographic regions): October 2025 – April 2027
Session dates will be scheduled once cohorts are identified.
For healthcare to work, it takes nurses. Nursing burnout, turnover, and vacancy rates especially in acute care and hospital settings continue to be an issue for many health systems. Understanding what kind of work environment is important to nurses is the first step toward addressing the foundational issues that can cause them to leave. Through programs that focus on innovation and leadership skills, we can help support more nurse-led solutions that can transform health systems and create environments where nurses and patients can thrive.
Related Resources
Ten nurse-led multidisciplinary health system teams from around the world were selected as finalists for the NurseHack4Health Pitch-A-Thon, with the chance to be awarded up to $150,000 in grant funding to bring solutions for a thriving workforce and healthy work environment to life. Meet the finalist teams below!
Through the Nurse Innovation Fellowship Program by Johnson & Johnson, powered by Penn Nursing and the Wharton School, nursing leaders are immersed in the innovation process to redefine the future of patient care and professional well-being by tackling a real problem at their health systems.
SEE YOU NOWThere is no shortage of headlines about healthcare’s challenges. As we begin a new year, we’re encouraged by the beacons, the health organizations listening, taking action and evolving to create workplace environments where people thrive. So, what’s working in healthcare? Across our three episodes focused on redesigning work, we’ll hear how change is in the air as new models and mindsets are embraced, revolutionizing hiring, mentorship, career planning, and more.
