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The American
Association of Colleges of Nursing compiled the following
success stories of how schools of nursing are addressing the
nursing shortage.
At schools
around the country, education-community partnerships have
been key to expansion efforts. "The increase in nursing
program enrollments at San Diego State University is the direct
result of partnerships with ten health care agencies and two
foundations," said Patricia Wahl, PhD, RN, dean of the
School of Nursing. "Altogether our partners have committed
a little over $4 million to this project which is truly a
win-win situation for the school and the community we serve."
This financial and clinical support has enabled the university
to grow its nursing program by 94 students this year.
"Clinical
partnerships have played a key role in the school’s success,"
said Carol Winters-Moorehead, PhD, RN, dean of nursing at
Hawaii Pacific University. "We actively secured student
clinical placements with over 55 health care agencies on the
island of Oahu, and are always looking for new partnership
opportunities." The school’s ability to increase
enrollments by 60 students was also facilitated by the construction
of a new nursing skills laboratory and the addition of professional
nursing academic advisors and personal counselors.
At many
institutions, enrollment growth is a factor of how well schools
have been able to bridge the faculty shortage gap. A new "loaned
faculty program" involving a consortium of area hospitals
was key to Texas Woman’s University (TWU) increasing
their baccalaureate student population from 596 to 699 students.
In an organized effort supported by the Greater Houston Partnership
and the Gulf Coast Workforce Commission, hospitals in the
Houston/Galveston area provided qualified staff to teach clinical
sections of undergraduate courses for all nursing programs
in the region. "This fall we had 16 hospital employees,
fully paid by the hospital, assigned to teach with us which
enabled TWU to enroll more students," said Carolyn Gunning,
PhD, RN, dean of the College of Nursing. "This represents
a huge financial investment by hospitals and has contributed
significantly to the increased enrollment."
State
and federal funding support has enabled many schools to add
faculty and improve the infrastructure needed to educate the
future nursing workforce. Last year, the Texas legislature
devised a mechanism to provide additional formula funding
to schools that demonstrate an increase in nursing enrollment.
"Texas Woman’s University received $517,000 last
year from this fund and were able to add six new faculty positions
and nursing admissions coordinators in Dallas and in Houston,"
explained Dr. Gunning.
"There
is a noticeable greying of the professoriate in nursing and
few entries in recent years," noted Bernadette Curry,
PhD, RN, chair of the Department of Nursing at Molloy College
in New York. "To that end, Molloy is focusing on the
nurse educator track in our graduate program to prepare nurses
with an educational foundation and encourage them to take
vital roles in nursing education." Molloy College realized
a 24 percent jump in baccalaureate enrollments this fall.
"A
multifaceted strategy engaging policymakers, business and
community leaders, and healthcare providers is essential to
building the momentum for change," said Betty Rambur,
DNSc, RN, dean of the School of Nursing at the University
of Vermont. This year, the school saw a 74 percent increase
in applications this fall and a 31 percent increase in enrollments.
Vermont’s success was facilitated by state-sponsored
loan repayment and loan forgiveness programs and scholarship
funding provided by the Stowe-based Freeman Foundation.
Reaching
out to new audiences and building collaborations are also
factors in effectively increasing enrollments. At College
Misericordia in Pennsylvania, administrators have focused
their efforts on reaching out to nontraditional students by
offering a part-time, accelerated and evening programs. "The
school is extremely sensitive to the specific needs of non-traditional
adult students, and we have designed programs to provide this
special population with the same quality in nursing education
afforded to our traditional full-time students," said
Donna Snelson, MSN, RN, chair of the nursing department.
At the
Newark campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey,
the nursing school was able to enroll an additional 114 nursing
students this fall due largely to well coordinated outreach
efforts. "The College of Nursing and the University's
Admissions Office have improved communication and awareness
of the nursing programs through collaborative initiatives"
said dean Felissa R. Lashley, PhD, RN. "We now effectively
reach out to high schools, associate degree programs, health
care agencies, and diploma nursing programs in an effort to
grow enrollments."
Though
baccalaureate enrollments have increased this year, schools
are faced with a number of barriers to further expansion,
chief among them being the shortage of faculty. "The
major obstacle to expanding further is faculty," said
Dr. Gunning. "We do not have enough faculty positions
to accommodate future growth, and we cannot find enough faculty
to accept positions for the salary we pay." This fall,
TWU turned away about 75 qualified applicants, and administrators
expect more students will be turned away this spring.
"In
spite of accepting additional students into the clinical component
this fall, we were still unable to admit 40 eligible applicants,"added
Dr. Booth from Southeastern Louisiana University. "The
major barriers to future enrollment increases are the lack
of qualified faculty and the growing competition for clinical
space."
Though
many nursing schools are at capacity, some regions of the
country are still struggling to find qualified applicants.
"Though the University of Portland experienced a 24 percent increase in nursing enrollments this year, some seats went
unfilled," said Dr. Misener. "There is a myth out
there that all nursing programs have waiting lists, but this
is simply not true."
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