Education

I.    Approaches Underway by Task Force Member Organizations

New York Organization of Nurse Executives (NYONE)

• Backing the development of legislation that supports associate and baccalaureate degree nursing programs, as well as graduate preparation for faculty
• Commissioned two national experts, Mary Wakefield, PhD, RN, and Peter Buerhaus, PhD, RN, to develop seminal research on the nursing shortage

New York State Education Department

• Supporting educational programs such as Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP) to increase the number of historically underrepresented students who enroll in and complete undergraduate or graduate programs leading to professional licensure
• Developed and disseminated educational brochures on nursing and other health professions
• Conducting educational program reviews to maintain quality standards
• Encouraging and supporting articulation agreements between licensed practical nursing programs and registered nursing programs to foster career ladders
• Disseminating practice information to nursing school programs

New York State Legislature

• Proposed legislation to establish scholarship and loan forgiveness programs

New York State Nurses Association

• Actively supporting legislation to:
  • Create scholarships for nursing students
  • Provide loan forgiveness
  • Provide aid to nursing schools to expand programs and retain/recruit nursing faculty
  • Mandate continued education as a condition for continuing licensure
  • Examine appropriate educational models and preparation of practitioners

Greater New York Hospital Association

• Supporting appropriate legislation to address the shortage
• Developed health career collaborative with NYC Board of Education and CUNY to discuss the educational preparation necessary to pursue nursing and other health careers

Healthcare Association of New York State

• Conducting a series of educational programs on best practices in recruitment strategies
• Supporting appropriate legislation

Central New York Summit on the Nursing Shortage

• Promote faculty appointments of nurses from service provider areas

II.    Possible Approaches Identified in the Literature Discussed by the Task Force

• Provide educational opportunities for LPNs to become RNs
• Provide educational opportunities for RNs to earn Bachelors and Masters degrees to meet workforce demands
• Provide educational opportunities for unlicensed personnel to become licensed
• Develop new models of education to better align education and practice demands
• Encourage baccalaureate and graduate degree preparation to meet changing market demands
• Increase capacity to provide nursing education via distance learning
• Recruit more faculty, in general, and more minority faculty specifically
• Recognize different educational routes to nursing and clearly define roles via licensure and certification
• Increase funding for clinical training costs in nursing education
• Connect forgiveness of loans and grants to working in nursing for periods of time
• Provide scholarships and grants as incentives to attend nursing school
• Provide non-financial support to potential nursing students, such as language remediation, science, math, and day care assistance.