Amid a nationwide nursing shortage, innovative strategies are emerging to attract the next generation of healthcare heroes. From holistic admission processes to dual degree programs, the race is on to fill the healthcare gap by redefining how we recruit nursing students.
The problem: Hospitals, outpatient clinics, and skilled nursing facilities are attempting to fill an estimated 193,100 registered nurse job openings.
“Finding enough nurses to fill positions and meet the growing demand for nursing care is an ongoing challenge,” said Deborah Trautman, PhD, RN, FAAN, president and chief executive officer of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN).
Some hospitals have increased salaries, offered signing bonuses, and expanded benefits packages to recruit and retain nurses. Still, the long-term solution to the nursing shortage starts with enrolling the next generation of registered nurses (RNs) in nursing school.
Attracting Nursing StudentsNursing schools are using a mix of traditional recruitment strategies, including outreach to high schools, career fairs, and social media campaigns, to attract new students alongside more creative efforts to expand enrollment.
Rolling admission with classes offered in spring, summer, and fall semesters that allow schools to accommodate more students, as well as dual degree programs to grant concurrent Associate and Bachelor of Science degrees in less time and for lower tuition than earning separate degrees, are two popular strategies schools are using to graduate more nursing students. Schools are also introducing new degree programs for nurses.
In fall 2023, Dallas College, with campuses around Dallas County, Texas, added a BSN program to its curriculum; the college already had an established associate degree program in nursing. And the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, plans to launch an accelerated four-semester BSN in fall 2025 to increase enrollment. In Waco, Texas, Baylor University created an accelerated online program that allows students to complete their clinical hours at sites close to their homes.
Direct-entry Master of Science in Nursing (DEMSN) programs such as those offered through the University of Vermont in Burlington and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), have also proven popular. These programs create an accelerated path to nursing careers for people with undergraduate degrees in fields other than nursing. The DEMSN program at UNLV, which launched in fall 2023, attracted 489 applicants for its 96 spots.
“Direct-entry MSN programs provide a faster way to get more qualified nurses into the field to address [nursing] shortages,” said Angela Silvestri-Elmore, PhD, APRN, FNP-BC, CNE, associate professor and associate dean of prelicensure education at UNLV. “The efficiency in education helps to meet the demands of modern healthcare.”
A growing number of nursing schools have also recognized the need to diversify their applicant pools. UNLV offers a holistic admissions process that considers life experiences along with grades and test scores. Accepting nontraditional students into nursing school isn’t a new concept; it can increase enrollment and student diversity.
Other schools have focused on enrolling more men in nursing programs to address the nursing shortage. Currently, just 12.6% of RNs are men.
Columbia University School of Nursing in New York City and Western Governors University in Millcreek, Utah, are among the schools that have published information and articles about men in nursing on their websites. Several US colleges have also established chapters of The American Association for Men in Nursing (AAMN).
AAMN publishes an annual list of the top schools in the nation for male nursing students based on efforts, such as strategic plans to increase the number of male students, to link male students with role models, career fairs targeting men, and marketing materials and course content relevant to male students.
A growing number of scholarships could also help nursing schools recruit and retain students. Most nursing students take out loans to finance their education, and the median amount of student loan debt after graduation is upward of $40,000, according to AACN data. Additionally, research shows that nurses who graduate with student loan debt equivalent to 50% of their annual pre-tax income will need an average of 10 years to repay their loans.
The Issue of FacultyEven with rolling admission, new degree programs, increased scholarships, and efforts to attract nontraditional students to nursing, enrollment in some nursing school programs is declining. The number of students enrolled in RN-to-BSN programs decreased almost 10% from 2022 to 2023, and enrollment in master’s and PhD nursing programs also declined. Interestingly, declining enrollment doesn’t necessarily signal a lack of interest in nursing.
Data from the AACN show that nursing schools turned away 65,766 qualified applications from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs in 2023. Insufficient clinical sites, classroom space, and clinical preceptors were the most significant factors for not admitting qualified applicants to nursing schools — in other words, faculty shortages.
“Availability of qualified teaching faculty is essential for enrollment in nursing schools,” said Linda Plank, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, dean, and clinical associate professor at the Louise Herrington School of Nursing at Baylor University.
Plank noted that some schools struggle to find qualified faculty to teach in their nursing schools, whereas others lack the budget to cover their salaries. The gap between teaching and practice settings is also an issue. “In general, nursing education pays less than nurses can make in clinical settings,” she told Medscape Medical News.
Several states, including Nevada, South Carolina, and Arkansas, have directed funds toward expanding nursing graduate and undergraduate programs and increasing the number of nurse educators. At the federal level, the bipartisan Nurse Faculty Shortage Reduction Act was introduced in January 2024 to establish a pilot program to augment the wages and narrow the pay gap between nurse educators and nurses working in acute care settings to help recruit and retain more nursing school faculty.
“The healthcare field needs more nurses,” Plank said. “Nursing schools have a huge responsibility in trying to help out with the nursing shortage.”
Jodi Helmer is a freelance journalist who writes about health and wellness for Fortune, AARP, WebMD, Fitbit, and GE Health.
Source : Medscape