Kicking off their efforts with a strategic planning session in January 2011, with over 40 core stakeholders participating, the Mississippi Action Coalition is well underway towards laying the groundwork for addressing many of the goals laid out by the Institute of Medicine Report.

During the planning session, the Action Coalition developed goals and objectives to focus its work and formed implementation teams for each of the following focus areas:

• Education redesign.
• Maximizing Scope of Practice.
•  Interprofessional Collaboration.
• Leadership & Communication.

Recent efforts by the Mississippi State Legislature to remove scope of practice barriers, while unsuccessful, provided an important foundation for the Action Coalition as the legislature urged nurse and physician groups to work together to develop a compromise on this issue.

The Action Coalition has several partners already committed to making these goals a reality including the State Department of Health, Board of Nursing, and several nursing and education focused associations and foundations.