Community College Bi-Weekly Features Op-ed from CCNA

In the November 2, 2009 edition of Community College Week, educators and administrators from two-year colleges around the country read an opinion editorial about the relationship between education and the nursing shortage called “Closing the Nursing Shortage Demands Creativity, Collaboration.”

The piece was co-written by Susan Reinhard, Senior VP and Director of the AARP Public Policy Institute and Chief Strategist for the Center to Champion Nursing in America and Brenda Cleary, Director of CCNA. They begin with the well established facts of a predicted shortage of 260,000 nurses by 2025, a wave of baby boomers who will need more care and the challenge of graduating enough highly skilled nurses to meet these demands.

Reinhard and Cleary go on to profile two innovative programs designed to solve these interrelated problems, including the Oregon Consortium for Nursing Education (OCNE), a collaboration effort of eight community colleges and the Oregon Health and Science University School of Nursing. Because of OCNE’s competency based, shared core curriculum, students are better prepared, more likely to pursue a bachelor’s degree, and can graduate in less time. While RNs with two-year degrees are a vital component of the nurse workforce, those with bachelors’ and advanced degrees are increasingly needed, especially in light of the nurse faculty shortage and an increasing need for Advanced Practice Registered Nurses, driven by health care reform. Oregon is one of 30 states receiving technical assistance support from CCNA to expand its innovative programs and share its results with leaders from nursing, education and workforce development around the country.