Based on our current knowledge of the nursing faculty shortage, we support H.R. 2043. Nursing schools are turning away thousands of eligible nursing students due to limited staffing, financial resources, and clinical experiences. Not only are there faculty shortages therefore educating less future nurses, but the nursing shortage continues to grow. As the baby boomers are getting older, more nurses are retiring while more individuals are requiring nursing care. Ultimately, the number of graduating nurses will not be sufficient to fill the positions needed. This could be detrimental to national health care because there could be increased emergency waiting time, etc.
If this bill were to pass, major improvements could be made in the availability and quality of education and care. The increase in admissions, enrollment, and retention of nursing students will increase the number of graduating nurses. Additionally, the increase of nursing residency programs will ensure that new grad nurses are well-rounded and better prepared.
"Bill summary and status." The library of congress. Thomas, 22 Apr. 2009. Web. 10 Oct. 2010.
This bill will be extremely important to address the current nursing shortage. The need to increase nursing faculty in order to educate new RNs is becoming increasingly evident as highly qualified undergraduates are being turned away from nursing programs. Part of the problem is that there is a high demand for qualified nurses at the PhD level and limited supply. This is a significant problem, especially in rural areas where doctoral trained nurses often remain in the larger cities where there were trained, never to return to rural areas. “Nursing students who move to larger cities to pursue doctoral degrees often never return to their rural campus, taking valuable nursing talent away from the places that often need it the most” (McNeil, 2010). The fear is, that the educational requirements for nurse educators will need to be lowered in order to meet the demand for nursing faculty.
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I agree with Jennifer that this bill is very important in creating a more efficient health care system. We are in desperate need of nurses as well as nursing faculty. The only part of the bill that made me a little nervous was it mentioned an accelerated BSN program. I feel like our program would be more beneficial and much less stressful if it was five semester instead of four. I can not imagine completing a BSN in an accelerated program. I would be exhausted.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Emily about the accelerated BSN program. I am already stressed enough with our course load; I could not imagine trying to complete a BSN program any faster. Also, this idea raises concerns about the quality of the education. Yes, providing an accelerated BSN program would create more new graduate nurses, but my worry is that nursing students would be so overwhelmed with the amount of work that they would not be able to retain the knowledge from their experience. Another issue I wanted to comment on was increasing enrollment into nursing programs. I believe in clinical experience a low professor to student ratio is important to allow for greater accessibility to professor assistance and learning opportunities. Therefore, the issue of increasing facility and enrollment must be addressed simultaneously to provide the best results.
ReplyDeleteEmily and Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteYou both bring up great concerns. As current BSN nursing students, the mental and physical demands of nursing school are fresh in our minds; therefore, our perspective is all the more credible. I do agree with you that accelerating the BSN program would potential make nursing school even more challenging and we must not lose quality just to increase quantity. The nursing profession is an extremely important one, and the time spent in nursing school is not only a building of knowledge but of experience, character, and responsibilty. However, I have talked to a few fellow students who would prefer to go through the summer instead of having the time off. They felt that they had forgotten a lot of the important material of the previous semester and with the high pace of the courses were not able to "catch up" and build upon what they had already learned. I also think this would be beneficial for students who enter the program in the spring semester so they do not have a 3 month break away from nursing before they plunge into the "clinical heavy" second semester. It is often challenging for many students to get back into the mindset of nursing school after summer break.
Emily, Jennifer, and Jennifer, thanks for your support and contributions toward this important topic!
What is the current status of this bill?
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