Hackensack Meridian Health Partnering With Local Colleges To Tackle Nursing Shortage
LAKEWOOD, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- The health care profession is offering a grim diagnosis when it comes to available nurses.
A shortage nationwide is forcing many schools and hospitals to come up with new ways to recruit, CBS2's Alice Gainer reported Thursday.
For 19-year-old Amanda Brill, the reason she's a nursing student at Georgian Court University in New Jersey is heartfelt.
"I've lost a lot of people in my life. My dad just passed away about three years ago," Brill said.
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Now, she wants to help as many people as she can. So do her classmates.
"It just makes you feel really good and full as a person, to be able to there for somebody," a classmate said.
Which comes at a perfect time, since officials say there's a shortage of nurses across the country, especially in the Tri-State Area.
"It's cyclical. We always seem to have a shortage and then the schools really ramp up," said Teri Wurmser, Georgian Court associate dean.
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According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, more than 1 million registered nurses are expected to retire by 2030. But the aging workforce isn't the only reason for the shortage. An increase in an aging population plays a role, and limited supply of new nurses.
"We have a shortage of faculty in the school, so classrooms are smaller," said Donna Ciufo, the VP of nursing education at Hackensack Meridian Health.
Knowing about the shortage, Hackensack Meridian Health has partnered with nearly a dozen local colleges over the years, to create and advance schools of nursing, investing in high-tech equipment to get students quickly ready for the real deal and ensuring job security. They hire 600 nurses a year.
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Many nursing institutions are also trying to recruit less traditional students. For qualifying students, Rutgers University offers an accelerated nursing degree.
"They can come into our program and receive a bachelor of science degree in 14 months," said Linda Flynn, the interim dean of the School of Nursing.
Seton Hall University has a similar program. Students, who already have college degrees, return to become registered nurses, like 47-year-old Chris Claps, who was in finance.
"We did financing for health care companies and, really, I was always interested in working with the patients and the people," Claps said.
It's a meaningful career that college graduates can now achieve in just a couple of years.
To recruit and train single parents to become nurses, some colleges and universities are now allowing children to dorm at their facilities.