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Prof. Karen Devereaux Melillo, chair of the Nursing Department, and honors students Allison Geissert and Kaye Kenney participated in a recent State House rally about support for nursing.
Students and faculty from 22 nursing programs throughout the state gathered to advocate for level funding of the Nursing Initiative in the state budget and educate legislators on the need to attract nursing faculty. The Massachusetts Association of Colleges of Nursing (MACN) sponsored the day’s events.
Since 2005, the Department of Higher Education, with funding from the Legislature, has worked with the Massachusetts Hospital Association and other health-care stakeholders to develop the Massachusetts Public Higher Education Initiative in Nursing Education. The Initiative seeks to address a two-fold problem: an acute shortage of nurses and a shortage of nursing educators.
Because of the shortage of nursing teachers, colleges are turning away qualified nursing students when more nurses are needed. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, more than 40,000 qualified applicants were denied admission to nursing schools nationwide in 2007. The Massachusetts Hospital Association projects the statewide shortage to reach nearly 10,000 nurses by 2010 and to surpass 25,000 by the year 2020.
There is no shortage of nursing students; qualified students currently are required to wait for nursing program openings. The shortage of faculty, clinical sites and laboratory facilities compound the problem. The Initiative is implementing a web-based centralized approach to clinical placements to streamline the process for nurse educators in academic and clinical settings.
Students Geissert and Kenney, both juniors, participated in the MACN rally to extend their understanding of leadership in nursing. Part of their project, besides conducting interviews and literature reviews, is to make a presentation to their junior peers about their findings on leadership.
Geissert says, “The experience allowed me to witness firsthand how nurses take action at the state and federal levels to influence current and future nursing practice. It makes the most sense for the state and federal governments to consult with nurses and nursing educators because they know the issues after spending day-to-day immersed in the field, hours mulling over nursing practices, and years of making contributions to the field.”
During the rally, Kathleen Scoble, president of MACN, said, “At a time when we are trying to improve healthcare for all in Massachusetts, we have a growing nursing shortage. What makes that shortage worse is the fact that we also have a shortage of nursing faculty. The governor has level funded the Nursing Initiative in the state budget. We hope the House and Senate will join him."
Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray spoke at the rally, saying, “The governor and I recognize the need for more nursing faculty and that is why we level funded the Nursing Initiative in our budget. Although money is tight this year, we know that a lot more needs to be done to erase this nursing shortage. The more nurses who have advanced degrees, the more effective and efficient will be patient care, and Massachusetts will become a model for the rest of the nation.”
- Sandra Seitz