About Us

Our History

The ICNR is a unique organization and the first of its kind in Illinois. We're the result of various individuals coming together to achieve a shared mission and vision - to ensure Illinois has the nursing resources it needs. We're also very concerned about the fact that nursing shortages tend to be cyclical, and nursing issues are only addressed after a crisis has occurred.

Our story begins in early 1999, when the Illinois Hospital Association's Policy Council appointed a Task Force on the nursing shortage. This Task Force was composed of leaders from nursing service and education, and human resources departments. These committed individuals were charged to study the supply of, and demand for, nurses in Illinois, determine if there was a shortage, and make recommendations on ways the IHA could intervene to alleviate the shortage. In the short time the Task Force met, from April 1999 until February 2000, they conducted a nursing personnel survey (hyperlink to Nursing Personnel Survey in CNI) to measure the breadth and depth of the shortage, developed strategies and plans, and made recommendations to the IHA Board. In February of 2000, as a result of the Task Force's recommendations, the IHA facilitated the formation and development of a group of organizations, a federation, to address the issues causing the shortage of nursing personnel in Illinois hospitals.

The federation of organizations was set up with two main objectives:

• To efficiently, effectively and positively affect the growing gap between the supply of and demand for nurses.
• To address the long-term nursing resources and care needs of the people of Illinois.

The Task Force invited over seventy representatives from state and national nursing organizations to meet on June 13, 2000, to discuss forming a permanent coalition to address nursing resource needs on an ongoing basis.

More than forty organizations responded to their call. They represented trade associations, professional nursing associations, schools and colleges of nursing, and state agencies. The Illinois Coalition for Nursing Resources was chosen as the name for the evolving group at its second meeting on August 1, 2000.

Since our inception, we've grown steadily and evolved from a group of committed individuals getting together to network, to our present status as an incorporated not-for-profit (501C6) entity with a Board of Directors and formal membership. We now number over 160 members, and meet quarterly via videoconference at the IHA offices in Springfield and Naperville.