Nursing Changes

Now this is lazy blogging. This picture and article is from the front page of yesterdays Daily Times. Kathryn wanted me to stop by the office and do the treadmill thing, but as you all know from yesterdays blog, I was a bit busy. Have a great day and enjoy. This photo is the Grand Dames at the Baptism on Sunday.



Kathryn Fiddler, clinical research coordinator at Delmarva Heart LLC in Salisbury, attaches monitors to fellow registered nurse Erica Daniels as they prepare for an exercise treadmill test. Fiddler earned her bachelor's degree at Salisbury University and enrolled in the new clinical nurse educator master's program. (Laura Emmons photo)
The following is from The Salisbury Times, 08-11-08 SALISBURY -- As baby boomers age and the need for health care grows, the nursing shortage is expected to intensify across the country in the coming years.
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But despite the rising demand for nursing care, colleges and universities struggle to expand student enrollment because of faculty shortages, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

A report by AACN revealed that U.S. nursing schools turned away 40,285 qualified applicants from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs in 2007 due to insufficient number of faculty, clinical sites, classroom space, clinical preceptors and budget constraints.

In an effort to buck the trend on the Lower Shore, Salisbury University and Wor-Wic Community College have made several nursing program expansions.

This year, SU's "RN to Master's" program provides a new clinical nurse educator track and allows individuals with an associate's degree in nursing to earn a master's degree in less time.

"The program offers a 12-credit efficiency that makes it easier for students to participate because it bypasses typical bachelor's degree requirements," said Karin Johnson, director of graduate and second degree programs.

SU developed the program through a three-year, $261,009 grant from the Maryland Higher Education Commission for its Nurse Support Program, which is designed to increase the number of nurses in Maryland hospitals and expand the capacity of the state's nursing programs, Johnson said.

"Our intent is to provide an exciting and challenging master's education that will prepare more nurses for the field and for teaching, both at the college level and through staff and patient education," she said.

The program will also use the latest options in distance learning education to offer some courses in online or hybrid formats to make the it more accessible and efficient for students who are employed, Johnson said.

"Faculty will work one-on-one with individual students to design a program that fits their schedule and allows them to meet other responsibilities," she said.

In order to meet local work force demands, Wor-Wic made two nursing program expansions in the past six years, said Tim Sherman, dean of occupational education.

The first took place in 2002-03, which allowed the community college to increase enrollment from 96 to 128 students each year. That number rose to 160 students when the second expansion occurred in 2007-08.

"There's always a waiting list and it continues to grow," Sherman said. "But that's not unusual for any health science program that is in high demand. We try to accommodate both the students and the local employers."

Sherman said the college had to be creative to make the recent expansion work with a larger number of students.

"We're actually teaching nursing students off sync," Sherman said. "The last expansion started in January so nursing students aren't taking the same courses at the same time."

The shortage of registered nurses in the United States could reach as high as 500,000 by 2025, according to a report released by Dr. Peter Buerhaus of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., and colleagues in March 2008. The report, titled "The Future of the Nursing Workforce in the United States: Data, Trends and Implications," found that the demand for RNs is expected to grow by 2-3 percent each year.

Johnson said SU's expansion "is a timely addition to the graduate nursing program."

For SU alumna Kathryn Fiddler, a registered nurse who earned a bachelor's degree at SU in 1996, it was an easy choice to re-enroll in the master's program.

An Air Force reservist and clinical research coordinator at Delmarva Heart LLC in Salisbury, the Allen resident is taking full advantage of a new clinical nurse educator track this fall.

"The new track provides the opportunity to have an understanding of clinical health assessment, as well as the teaching aspect," said Fiddler, 41. "What we do as nurses involves so much education, for physicians, patients and other nurses. Most of us are not ever formally trained to teach; we just step into that role."

cevans@dmg.gannett.com