Help Solve the Nursing Shortage: Second Degree BSN Nursing Programs

By Jeff Morrow

The changing U.S. economy and the desire of many working people to 'make a difference' after the events of September 11 have contributed to a growing interest in nursing as a career. Additionally, over one million new and replacement RNs will be needed in the United States by 2016, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In response to these factors, nursing schools are offering new ways to attract and quickly train more nurses while maintaining the quality and integrity of nursing education overall.

A popular approach is the second degree nursing program. Sometimes called accelerated nursing programs, they allow individuals who already have a baccalaureate degree (BA) from an accredited university or college in an area other than nursing to obtain the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree in under four years. These programs are offered at both baccalaureate and master's degree (MA) levels.

Second degree programs accept all course units successfully completed by students in their first degree. This effectively fulfills the prerequisites of a BSN plan. Many second degree BSN programs can be finished in 12 to 18 months, while MSN programs designed for non-nursing graduates usually take three years to complete. The accelerated nature of these programs makes them especially appropriate for people who are looking to make a career change, but the pace of the programs can be challenging. They usually involve intense instruction periods and include the same number of clinical hours as those given to students in traditional programs.

Typical second degree nursing students tend to be older and more motivated, with higher academic expectations than students who enter traditional nursing programs right out of high school. Students in second degree nursing programs generally have high grade-point averages and nearly always pass their licensing exams on the first try.

Admission standards for second degree nursing programs are high and usually require a 3.0 GPA at minimum. Persons interested in such programs must make a formal application to the educational institution of their choice and meet all of its admission requirements. College transcripts are reviewed to ensure that all prerequisites for a second degree nursing program are met.

According to second degree program educators, most applicants meet the arts and social science prerequisites of their programs, while some do not meet the natural sciences requirements. To help these students, most second degree nursing programs offer these prerequisites just before the start of the accelerated program. Personal interviews with representatives of the Department of Nursing at the given educational institution are usually required as well.

Upon completion of an accelerated or second degree program, students are eligible to take the licensing exam for RNs, the NCLEX-RN, which is required by the Boards of Nursing in all 50 states and U.S. territories.

In 1990, there were 31 second degree BSN programs and just a dozen accelerated MSN programs in existence in the U.S. Today there are 205 BSN programs and 56 MSN programs.

How to Receive a Nursing Scholarship

By Grant Eckert

First Things First: What is FAFSA?

The first step in receiving any sort of scholarship or financial aid for college is to complete the FAFSA. FAFSA, or free application for student aid, is a form that is filled out by every student wishing to be considered for college tuition. This is a federal form, and you only have to complete it once, unlike the past when you had to complete separate paperwork for each college you hoped to attend.

The FAFSA form will provide you with information that will determine the amount of money your family is expected to provide for your education. The difference between what your family is expected to pay and the amount of tuition at your chosen college can be covered by federally backed grants and loans. To reduce the amount that you are expected to pay further, you can apply for a variety of scholarships.

Academic Based or Need Based Scholarships

While there are a variety of scholarships available, they generally fall into two categories, academic based and need based. Academic based scholarships are determined on grades and test scores. Financial need is not a consideration. Competition for these awards is typically stiff, with many very strong candidates vying for the same scholarship. You may be required to submit an essay, or chronicle any previous volunteer work.

Need based scholarships are determined on the financial need of applicants. While grades are typically considered, the academic pressure is usually not as intense as with an academic based scholarship. Many scholarships are a combination of the two: needs based scholarships that require a high GPA, a concentration in certain subjects, community involvement, or specific career goals.

The Nursing Shortage

There is currently a nursing shortage, and the future outlook is that a shortage will remain through the immediate future. As our population lives longer and medical technology continues to grow, the need for nurses outstrips the rate in which they are completing school. This nursing shortage means that an industrious student is likely to earn enough scholarship money to pay his or her way through college and graduate debt free.

One program many hospitals have implemented is paying tuition for current nursing students. Of course, this does come with strings attached. Once the student graduates from nursing school, he or she is expected to work for the hospital for a prearranged period of time. If the nurse leaves before that time, he or she is responsible for paying back part or all of the tuition. This can be an excellent way for students who would otherwise not be able to afford college to earn a degree. Not only does the student graduate debt free, but they automatically have a job once they leave school. The years after nursing school can be spent gaining experience in a variety of hospital settings, and if they decide to move on once their obligation is fulfilled, they have a good idea of what field of nursing they are most interested in.

Financial Help for Graduate Degrees

The lack of nurses with graduate degrees indicates that it is possible for you to earn a Nurse Practitioner, Nurse Midwife, or Nurse Anesthetist degree without the burden of taking on a significant debt. Previously, it was often difficult to weigh the benefits of returning to graduate school against the problem of expensive graduate school credit hours. With many hospitals and clinics lowering costs by employing Nurse Practitioners in place of physicians, and Nurse Anesthetists to assist the Anesthesiologist, it is very likely that the medical group that you currently work for offers tuition reimbursement. If they do not, you should speak to your supervisor or human resources personnel. They may be willing to offer tuition reimbursement on a case by case basis. If your current employer does not offer tuition reimbursement, you may want to consider moving to a different employer. Many employers will offer full tuition reimbursement or even allow you to attend school full time, with the agreement that you will work for them for a specified time once you receive your graduate degree.

Increasing Your Likelihood of Receiving a Scholarship

Whether you are looking for a needs based scholarship for an undergraduate nursing degree, or are searching for a hospital financed scholarship offer to complete your graduate degree, there are several things that you can do to improve your chances of success.

Work in your field. It does not matter if it is paid employment or volunteer work, but working in the field you plan to earn a degree in shows the decision makers that you understand the work and are less likely to switch majors or drop out.

Watch your grades and your money. No matter if you are looking for a need based or academic based scholarship, keep your grades high, even in classes that you do not think matter, and watch your money. When you receive your scholarship money be sure to buy the books and study materials that you will need to succeed. If possible, hold some money back so that you can afford a tutor before exams if you find yourself struggling.

Hybrid Mentoring Solution to Nursing Shortage

A productive nurse mentoring program requires time, effort, and commitment - resources no registered nurse or healthcare-related organization can afford to waste these days. With web-based mentoring software, it cuts attrition in half in less than six months and streamlines the administration of nursing mentorship in direct care, education, administrative and research work environments.

Mentoring new nurses helps acclimate them to their new job roles and corporate environment. It boosts JCAHO compliance scores, nursing recruitment, nurse retention, staff nursing development, and ultimately, the quality of patient care. Also, a mentoring nursing program has a potential expense reduction of $50,000 per retained nurse (based on average turnover costs) according to a 1999 Nursing Economics financial implications analysis. In addition, a nurse mentoring program is an important criterion to attain Magnet Hospital status. Unfortunately, with the current nursing shortage, there aren't enough nurses to do patient care, let alone mentoring.

A successful mentoring program has many positive benefits and outcomes. In spite of that, it has its pitfalls. A blend of traditional face-to-face mentoring and eMentoring addresses two major issues found in mentoring situations - time constraints and distance constraints. This "hybrid" Mentoring in Healthcare Management System is "a personalized, on-demand collaborative mentoring experience that uses web-enabled technology and integrated knowledge sharing and management to quickly build knowledge, nursing skills, and capability to optimize human performance, anytime, anywhere, while providing the ability to track and measure results". Mentoring partners should use HIPAA compliant collaboration tools, such as e-mail, video conferencing, Instant Messenger and file transfer to discuss patient information, maintain patient confidentiality, and to carry out aspects of mentoring.

Hospitals, long-term care facilities, home health agencies, associations, schools and other healthcare-related organizations need customized mentoring solutions precisely tailored to their requirements. This solution would be used enterprise-wide or for a small group to automate the process of filling out forms, templates, and reports typically used to coordinate time-consuming and antiquated paper-based nursing mentoring programs. With a web-based system, after a nurse mentor or nurse preceptor completes a profile, a sophisticated matching algorithm will find a perfect match based upon such factors as skills, personality, personal information, and career background. The mentee or preceptee should choose his or her own nursing mentor or nursing preceptorship.

Best-practice mentoring guidelines need to be based on nursing research gleaned from the most respected nursing journals and nursing articles. Also, nursing staff development and training to manage and close gaps in organizational knowledge, nursing competency, and skills across an enterprise needs to be provided. Ideally, mentoring partners would be able to pick and choose from thousands of web-based staff training courses such as "JCAHO regulations", "JCAHO inspection", and other nursing contact hours.

A web-based platform needs to be easily adaptable and would also help administer a nursing preceptor program as well as a coaching, learnership, externship, internship, apprenticeship, residency, diversity, and tutoring program for nurses, new nurse graduates, nursing students, physicians, medical students, residents, pre-med students, and allied health professionals.

With a hosted, pay-as-you-go, and collaborative mentoring software solution, the system would need to be delivered on-demand from secure servers without any hardware, infrastructure or IT people necessary.

Solutions for the Current Nursing Shortage

By Stephanie Larkin

The nursing shortage in the United States is estimated between 340,000 to over a million nurses. Many of the nurses that are leaving the field are management and faculty nurses needed by nursing schools for training the new crop of nursing graduates. Many of these upper level administrative nurses are nearing retirement age, just at the time that demand for nursing care is increasing as the Baby Boomer generation reaches retirement age. The number of nurses in hospitals, public nursing, teaching and geriatric centers are all falling behind the demand, with little improvement seen in the immediate future. Some of the solutions for resolving the nursing shortage which have been suggested by various study groups and interested partners are as follows:

Developing public/private partnerships

In many instances, the plans for public/private partnerships involve public funding to increase faculty and attendance at nursing education facilities. Due to an aging population, the same time the demand for nurses is increasing; nursing educators are aging as well and subsequently leaving the workforce. A three fold program has been implemented to increase the number of classes, increase the number of faculty in the nursing field and increase the number of students who have been unable to enter the field previously because of lack of resources and limited enrollment quotas. Public funding will cover part of the gap between supply and demand in the nursing field.

Using technology as a training tool

Although a major part of nursing education is clinical experience, much of the classroom education can be handled through today's advanced technology. Internet education, distance learning, and accelerated learning programs based around adult work schedules are all ways in which technology can be used as a training tool for nursing educators. As the care of the patient becomes more related to technological advances, routine nursing practices can be drilled by using that same technology. Technology advancements can also be used in testing and certification settings for nursing educators.

Creating healthy work environments

Healthy work environments are important in every field, but more so in the hospital or clinic setting where patients are incapacitated with a variety of ailments, many of which are contagious. The strains of viruses and bacteria are often mutating faster than medical researchers can create designer drugs. In addition to physical ailments, the stress of caring for injured, ill or dying patients will take a heavy emotional toll on nurses. Creating better ways of keeping nurses healthy both mentally and physically helps to keep the nursing force strong and capable.

Changing roles for advanced practice nurses

The nursing shortage can also be alleviated by utilizing practical nurses. Already in the system, these nurses’ skills could be further enhanced by improving their education level through adult education, continuing education and seminars. Still better utilization could be made of existing nurses and staff who are interested in advancing their careers in nursing. Also, as more duties are being picked up by staff with intermediate levels of training, registered nurses are able to perform more of the teaching, administrative and more highly skilled nursing tasks.

Partnerships with nursing schools

Partnerships with nursing schools can take many different forms, each of which could be valuable in reducing the growing shortage of nurses. Assistance in replacing nursing school faculty is of key importance so that nursing classes can continue to be staffed adequately. Provision of grants, loans and scholarships in order to attend educational classes in nursing will allow students who would otherwise not be able to afford nursing school to attend. Adult education classes at nursing schools allow for an increased level of graduates in nursing. Using student nurses effectively could increase nursing caregivers on the job. By covering educational costs in return for a service commitment by graduate nurses is another way to increase the number of nursing staff in the field.

Financing alternatives

Many jurisdictions are recognizing the need to make additional public and private funding available to nursing students. Student loans, grants, low interest government loan scholarships, and employer paid training are just a few of the ways many individuals can afford a nursing school education. If the programs are accelerated so that the students are able to complete the course and enter the work force more rapidly, the education will cost less and the payoff will be larger for the student. This scenario could lead to a larger work force of capable, certified nurses.

It is becoming more and more apparent that there is a large and growing nursing shortage in the United States. It is imperative that actions are taken in order to avoid a complete breakdown in the health care system.


Message from the moderator:

Financial aid for higher education is available in the forms of scholarships, grants and loans for those applicants and nurses interested in becoming nurses and nurse educators at the Pennsylvania Higher Education Foundation (PHEF), link at left.