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The online posting says it all:
"The Class of 2011 was the final year for the J&J/Wharton Fellows program. Johnson & Johnson's generous sponsorship of this program will not continue... Wharton is actively seeking new funding ."
For 29 years, more than 1,100 nurses from around the world who sought to sharpen their business and leadership skills looked to the Johnson & Johnson (J&J)-Wharton Fellows Program in Management for Nurse Executives held at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
That's what Deborah K. Zastocki, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE, president/CEO, Chilton Hospital, Pompton Plains, NJ, did.
"I recognized to be effective in my role I needed enhanced business competencies," Zastocki told ADVANCE. "I took advantage of the Wharton Fellows program and completed an intensive forum to develop business and planning skills."
Dennis Kneeppel, MPA, RN, FACHE, CENP, CPHQ, NEA-BC, vice president, patient care services, chief nursing officer at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital, San Francisco, did the same.
"Since completing the program, I can say I utilize the program's lessons daily as I work with my team and colleagues to maneuver complicated and sometimes frustrating business and organizational challenges," commented Kneeppel, who also served on the board for the Wharton program for 2 years.
"Whether it is continuing to optimize and leverage emotional intelligence or working with financial statements and MS Excel, the lessons of Wharton prove to be invaluable," she said.
Elizabeth Sheridan, MA, BSN, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE, chief operating officer at South Jersey Healthcare Regional Medical Center and CNO for South Jersey Healthcare in southern New Jersey, also had the opportunity to participate in the 3-week executive program.
Participating in the program helped develop her leadership skills, "including negotiating, finances, and the ability to understand the change process and to lead change in complex organizations."
End of an Era
But just as healthcare is rapidly changing, so is the focus of healthcare education. Wharton learned in 2010 that J&J would direct funding to educate nurses in a different way, said Rosemary Bloser, practice leader, Health Care and Pharmaceuticals and the J&J/Wharton program director at Wharton Executive Education. "J&J said they wanted to focus more on community nurses."
"From recently published research, we're learning a considerable portion of healthcare is moving from hospitals to community clinics and centers and the home," explained Joanne Fillweber, manager, corporate contributions at J&J. "As a funder, we are constantly challenging ourselves to be sure we are responding to changes in the healthcare landscape. This shift is based on our research and knowledge of what is needed in this new landscape.
 "We know nursing has the opportunity to play a more significant role in primary care and in other ways. As a result J&J wants to be a leader in how nurses will fit into this environment."
Fillweber, who is responsible for J&J's leadership and management portfolio, said J&J believes nurses need to have a strategic voice and be partners in redesigning healthcare.
"We don't want the nurse's role at the bedside to change because that is where they have the expertise. But we want to empower them with leadership skills to strengthen their position."
To accomplish that, among other initiatives, J&J is expanding its Maternal-Child Health Leadership Academy in partnership with Sigma Theta Tau, and the J&J School Health
Leadership Program geared to school nurses "whom we found had very little voice and influence and yet have the confidence of the child."
J&J also partners with UCLA Anderson School of Management to sponsor the UCLA/J&J Health Care Executive Program. The program provides management and leadership skills to executive directors and other leaders of community-based healthcare organizations to maximize organizational capacity and sustainability.
Successful Partnership
The end of J&J sponsorship of the Wharton nurse executive program closes the door on a long, amicable collaboration.
"Back in 1981 or '82, J&J approached Wharton with an idea for an education program to move healthcare forward to advance the needs of patients," Bloser explained. "J&J and Wharton believed the senior nurse executive was the best person to ensure the patient voice was being heard at the executive level, and the best way to do that was to refine nurse leadership and business acumen skills."
Wharton was interested in working with the healthcare products company to create an intense course that would give nurse executives the skills they needed to be equal partners in the board room. So, beginning in June 1983, the first class of 40 nurses descended on the campus for an intensive program on all-things healthcare. The course was held every June with a competitive application process.
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"I sat on the selection committee with faculty and it was difficult to choose candidates," Bloser said. "Nurses are a modest group, so it was rare we'd get an application from a nurse who didn't qualify. Nurses who applied already had impressive skills, running huge segments of hospitals and health systems."
When they were accepted, J&J covered the majority of program costs including most meals, materials, supplies and the graduation dinner.
"Participants paid for their travel to and from Philadelphia, their hotel, miscellaneous meals not covered and incidentals," Bloser recalled. "J&J was the funding sponsor and had a seat on our board, but they stayed out of the curriculum design and out of the participant selection."
During its history, the J&J/Wharton program revised curriculum annually to meet the needs of healthcare changes, but it has had only two leaders, Sheldon Rovin, who died in 2009, and Greg Shea, who assumed leadership in 1998. "Greg's mother and aunt are nurses," Bloser said.
Now, Bloser said the program is actively seeking a new sponsor.
"We're not taking applications for June 2012 since there is no program agreed to or established, but we have overhauled the curriculum to focus on the lead nurse and physician as key in guiding hospitals into the next chapter in healthcare. Greg, Eileen Schnapp, [senior program manager] and I are currently in discussions with companies to seek a new sponsor."
Feather in Cap
Whoever signs on will be part of a respected program.
Bloser said evaluations from participants usually averaged a 6.7 out of a 7.0 scale, "which is almost unheard of. It was an amazing opportunity for these leaders both professional and personally and it was good for healthcare."
And it continues to be.
"Headhunters looking to fill CEO/COO positions contact us specifically for a Wharton fellow," Bloser revealed. "Also, nurses bond with classmates over the 3 weeks of the fellowship," she said. "Long friendships are created."
For example, Zastocki and Sheridan were part of the same cohort when they took the Wharton course and forged a strong friendship.
"Participants are very proud of what they accomplished in the program," Bloser continued. "A fellow who died a couple of years ago listed in her obituary that she was a graduate of the J&J/Wharton program. That says a lot for how important this program is to graduates."
Gail O. Guterl is a frequent contributor to ADVANCE.
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