The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) has forecasted that in 10 years there will be a national shortage of 800,000 registered professional nurses (RN). New York State will not be exempt from the effects of this deficiency.
While the UB School of Nursing has experienced an increase in enrollment, there is always more growing to do, according to Michael Redfern, assistant dean for administrative affairs in the School of Nursing.
Nationally, enrollment in nursing programs has increased by almost five percent in the last year, according to survey data released by the AACN.
UB has exceeded this number in both the Bachelor of Science (BS) program and the Accelerated Bachelor of Science Program (ABS).
With the help of funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the four-year BS enrollment increased by 10 percent, from 345 students in 2006 to 380 students in 2008.
Enrollment in the ABS program jumped from 18 students in 2006 to 40 in the 2008 school year - a 122 percent increase.
"The whole reason for developing the ABS was to combat the workforce shortage. In this program, students who already hold a bachelor's degree in another discipline complete the requirement for the BS in nursing in 12 months," Redfern said.
HRSA projects that nursing schools must increase the number of graduates by 90 percent in order to satisfy the addition of more than one million RNs to the US healthcare system by 2020, according to the AACN.
It is not a lack of interest that prevents the nursing shortage from improving. According to the AACN, more than 30,000 qualified applicants were rejected from baccalaureate nursing programs last year due to the faculty shortage.
"The most significant obstacle facing nursing education is not the lack of interest," Redfern said. "Unlike liberal arts programs, nursing accrediting bodies require very low student-to-faculty ratios. In order to increase students, additional funding is needed...to hire new faculty."
At UB, for every eight nursing students, one faculty member is needed.
Redfern described the shortage as a "cyclical issue." He explained that a declining number of nurses mean there are less nurses to enter graduate education, which results in less nurses with credentials to enter nursing education. Thus, less nursing faculty members are available to educate students interested in nursing, causing the issue to come full circle and return to the problem of a nursing shortage.
In fact, many US hospitals are forced to recruit from other countries due to the lack of nursing graduates. In Texas, 11 percent of RNs are internationally educated, according to the Department of State Health Services.
"The time, money and effort used to recruit international educated nurses should be put into hiring more faculty in the United States," said Jennifer McGuire, senior nursing major.
Although nursing shortages are at a record high nationwide, local hospitals in Buffalo have seen an increase in new hires within the past few years. The Women's and Children's Hospital of Buffalo hired 89 new RNs this past year.
"We created new positions to improve the nurse-to-patient ratio, that's why the number is higher," said Cherie Hepp, nursing recruiter from Women's and Children's Hospital of Buffalo. "The nursing shortage is a severe problem. It's only going to get worse as the baby boomers begin to retire."
In both 2006 and 2007, Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) hired 109 RNs, according to Sue Przepasniak, nursing team leader of human recourses at ECMC.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
