Preparing the Next Generation of RNs
It is estimated that more than one million nurses will be needed to fill both vacant and new nursing positions in our nation’s hospital by the year 2014 (Department of Labor).
Short staffing, forced overtime, inadequate wages, and other conditions are making it harder for nurses to deliver the care patients need and are causing more nurses to leave the bedside. At the same time, the need for nurses grows as the American population ages. Every nurse knows what study after study shows – more nurses lead to better patient outcomes.
To ensure quality patient care, nurses, hospital employers, and public officials need to work together to improve the conditions that are driving nurses from the bedside and invest in education programs that train the next generation of RNs and that expands the number of nurses to meet this shortage.
Through SEIU 1199’s Training and Upgrade Fund -- a joint program with the health care providers in New York -- health care workers have been advancing to positions as registered nurses for years. In 2006, the New York Training Fund graduated 650 new RNs. This has become the model for the California Training Fund, which is also a joint fund with health care employers. Other states are looking at creating similar programs. Altogether, joint SEIU/Hospital Training programs have graduated 1,432 new nurses since 2000.
Joint training programs between health care unions, hospital employers and academic institutions graduate nurses who have greater success in school and are better prepared to work at the bedside. These programs work because they focus on upgrading the careers of current heath care workers who are familiar with working in a hospital. These current healthcare workers receive mentoring and support, their retention rates are much higher than other new nurses and they are much more likely to remain in nursing. For example, the retention rate for nurse who graduated form the New York Training Fund is 90% after three years. The programs include:
» Pre-college classes that prepare health care workers to return to the classroom.
» Special SEIU nursing classes and tutoring through the Training Fund.
» Using SEIU nurses as dedicated preceptors and mentors for nurses in training and after graduation.
» Providing paid release time so that current health care workers can advance their careers.
We are also addressing the nursing shortage by creating more opportunities for our current nurses to educate and train the next generation. That means having education programs that allow current RNs to get advanced degrees, release time to teach or lead clinicals, and incentives to make sure nurses do not lose wages or benefits when they take on the challenge of teaching.
To expand these very successful programs and to meet the nursing shortage, we will be asking Congress to join with us and fund RN Training programs that work.