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from 2021, and 46 points from 2019. This troubling trend tracks with survey results showing increased numbers of nurses who do not have enough time to give their patients the care and atten- tion they need and who are forced to care for too many patients at one time. In 2023, 72% of nurses saw both of those issues as “major challenges,” up 11 and 13 points from 2021.
Newer nurses are disproportionately feeling the impact. Sixty-three percent of nurses with five or fewer years of experience say understaffing is their biggest obstacle to providing quality care, compared to 56% of all nurses. Of those nurses planning to leave the field within two years, 67% of newer nurses say they will find work outside of healthcare, compared to 31% of all nurses.
Colleges are doing what they can to draw new nurses into the pipeline. For example, Holyoke Community College (HCC) and Westfield State University (WSU) recently announced
“Nurses definitely have to deal with more complex issues — speak the language of finance, speak the language of marketing, speak the language of population health.”
a new pathway for individuals to earn both an associate degree and bache- lor’s degree in nursing simultaneously or in a streamlined manner by com- bining the curricula of both programs. The concurrent program is the first in the Commonwealth.
“The concurrent ADN-to-BSN pathway is an innovative approach to nursing education,” WSU Executive Director of Nursing Jessica Holden said. “It enables students to earn their ADN while simultaneously complet- ing coursework that counts toward their BSN. This integration of educa- tion allows for a more efficient and streamlined approach to nursing edu- cation that is advantageous to some students.”
The concurrent nursing program will help address the nursing short- age by increasing the number of stu- dents who can get into a bachelor of nursing program and allow them to earn their degree faster.
According to a Massachusetts Health Policy Commission report, “registered-nurse vacancy rates in acute-care hospitals doubled from 6.4% in 2019 to 13.6% in 2022, with especially high vacancy rates in com- munity hospitals. Employment in nursing and residential care facilities has not recovered since 2020 and remained below 2018 levels.”
HCC Director of Nursing Teresa
Beaudry explained that “we had to meet with the Massachusetts Board
of Registration in Nursing, who had to approve it, and they’re equally as excit- ed as we are to create another pathway for nurses to advance in their education and a different way for those students who might not be able to get into a bachelor’s of nursing program.”
A Question of Balance
In fact, moving up in the profession is a significant draw to many aspiring nurses. Most area colleges and univer- sities with nursing programs have mas- ter’s and doctoral programs structured in such a way that nurses can work full-
time while earning advanced degrees that will open up more doors and set them on track to be nursing managers, educators, administrators, or work in other roles.
“Usually, nurses return for an advanced degree,” Reske said. “They begin to look at, ‘what can I contrib- ute in practice? What attracts me? Is it working in an ambulatory-care setting or rehabilitation, or as a nurse leader or a nurse educator? Maybe I want to be a nurse practitioner.’ The opportuni- ties for nurses are amazing.”
And the education they’re getting
— both in the classroom and in the field — must prepare them for the new complexities of medical care today, she
added.
“Nurses definitely have to deal with
more complex issues — speak the lan- guage of finance, speak the language of marketing, speak the language of population health. All those require additional learning beyond the class- room. You’re connecting practice to knowledge and knowledge to practice, and learning how to apply that.”
In short, it’s a challenging time to be a nurse, and also a time of great oppor- tunity. Whether their love of nursing outweighs the stresses is a question for every professional in the field — and those questions are not going away any time soon. BW
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