"Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to request that the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) conduct a study to: (1) identify constraints encountered by schools of nursing in admitting and graduating the number of registered nurses necessary to ensure patient safety and meet the need for quality assurance in the provision of health care; and (2) develop recommendations to alleviate the constraints on a short-term and long-term basis. Directs the Secretary to provide that the study consider the perspectives of: (1) nurses and physicians in inpatient, outpatient, and residential facilities; (2) faculty and administrators of nursing schools; (3) providers of health plans or health insurance; and (4) consumers."
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The bill is sponsored by Representative Rush D. Holt from New Jersey and has 77 cosponsors.
This bill is important to us because we are all nursing students who have directly experienced the effects of limited space and funding in nursing classes. We are all nursing students in our 5th or 6th year of our undergraduate education after waiting for admission to the James Madison University Nursing program. Although surpassing all admission requirements, our admission was postponed due to lack of staff and funds. While we chose to wait, many of our peers chose to transfer to another Nursing school or change majors. This ultimately does not help the nursing shortage. We support this bill because it creates awareness for the nursing shortage and seeks to find solutions.
7 comments:
This is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed within the United States. It is so frustrating to think that there are so many qualified students who want to pursue a career in nursing, which would greatly benefit society, yet the lacking number of professors and inadequate funds make this unattainable.
This corresponds with our group blog and the need to address the nursing shortage beginning with the foundation, education. It is very alarming that highly qualified students are being turned away from nursing programs, despite the large demand in the profession. We have all delt with it even in our own school. We have all seen very intelligent students get turned away, and they cannot understand why. This issue needs to be addressed.
This issue is one that is very frustrating as a nursing student. With the nursing shortage in this country, it is frustrating to see highly qualified students being turned away from nursing programs because of lack of space. Many students are forced to stay in undergraduate schools for 5 or 6 years to complete the nursing program or graduate with a more general health major and then go to an associate program to become an RN. This issue needs to be addressed so that all qualified students will be able to be accepted into nursing programs in the US.
This is a topic closest to all of us. It is particularly relevant that your group is made up of students who waited to enter the program strictly because of monetary and staffing constraints. It is true that the student/teacher ratio cannot be raised in the case of nursing practicum courses, and the school's only way to increase enrollment is to increase faculty. This legislation is extremely important to find the BEST way to increase the number of graduating nursing students per year, and to supplement the funding for nurse educators entering and staying in academia. We cannot continue at the current rate- the nursing deficit is already jeopardizing patients and causing malcontent among the established nursing staff in our care facilities.
I think this is an excellent bill to support. The lack of nursing faculty is a huge problem in the healthcare field. The lack of faculty is just further discouraging people from entering into the nursing field because they can't get into a school of nursing in the first place. By supporting more faculty, allowing a lower ration of nursing students to faculty, burnout of professors could be lowered making it a more appealing career choice and additional nurses could be admitted, trained, and hierd for jobs.
This bill would address the problem of nursing programs not having the resources to accept qualified students, especially in the midst of a massive nursing shortage. It would have very positive implications, however, some may feel that the money would be better spent expanding programs rather than on a study on how to expand the programs.
Our group's blog runs along the lines of yours. I think it is extremely necessary to increase the funds of nursing schools because in this time of shortage, it is absurd to have to turn away people who want to be nurses and pursue this profession. As a fifth year student, I know as well as you all know, how frustrating it was to have met the requirements (and beyond!) and still be denied/delayed entry into the program. Nursing schools need more funding, more educational materials, and more professors in order to help this crisis in our country.
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