The general consensus, as stated in the eighth annual report from the National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice, is that the status quo is no longer enough. “Nursing education must keep pace with practice innovations and other changes in the healthcare delivery system,” according to the report. “To stay current, new nurses must be educated and equipped with relevant and appropriate competencies, knowledge, skills, and attitudes.” The report also notes that the demanding role for nurses of the future will require that an RN possesses an expanded knowledge base to manage complex patient care in collaboration with an interdisciplinary team.
Several factors are driving this need for more highly educated staff. The aging U.S. population, where 10,000 Baby Boomers turn 65 every day, means caring for greater numbers of elderly patients who require more specialized and complicated care. By 2030, Americans 65 and older will represent nearly 20% of the population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
In addition to changing demographics, changing healthcare reimbursement structures, emphasizing value-based care, require that providers supply the highest quality of patient care, while still ensuring the most cost-effective approaches. This is particularly relevant to the staffing of nurses and other clinicians, since recent studies have linked more highly educated nurses to better patient outcomes.
Another critical factor in the future of healthcare delivery and nurse education is the growth of nursing specialties such as critical care, labor and delivery, and home health, which can require additional training and professional certification.
Fortunately, most nurses, particularly those 40 and under, welcome the opportunity for more education, according to a recent Survey of Registered Nurses by AMN Healthcare and the Center for the Advancement of Healthcare Professionals. The survey was completed in 2015 and polled nearly 9,000 RNs nationwide. The most significant trends revealed were a pending wave of retirements by older nurses and the high degree of interest in seeking education and training for new career opportunities, particularly among younger nurses.
Specifically, the survey found that, among nurses under age 40, more than three-quarters plan to pursue a higher degree in the next three years. This trend could be an indication of younger nurses’ desire to be more competitive in the job market, since many health systems give hiring and promotion preference to nurses with higher education.
The good news is that a wide variety of options exist today for nurses to further their education. An increasing number of college programs – many of which are online – are becoming available, enabling RNs to seek their higher degrees and training while still maintaining their current nursing job. The growth in these programs goes hand-in-hand with the Institute of Medicine’s 2010 landmark report, The Future of Nursing, which recommended higher degrees for nurses to improve the quality of care and expand patient access to primary and specialty care.
In addition to bachelor’s degree offerings, a number of programs are available that supply advanced training for new nursing graduates, specialty nurses or leadership roles. At the AMN Healthcare Center for the Advancement of Healthcare Professionals, for instance, nurses can attend a special training program that will build competences to assist in their transition to a Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) position. The CNO Academy recognizes and addresses the pervasive training gap for new and aspiring nurse leaders, many of whom come from an organization’s staff ranks.
Conducted as a three-day retreat, Academy educators help early career or aspiring CNOs, develop their leadership and relationship-building skills, recognizing the critical role that CNOs fulfill in shaping patient care and nurse staffing. Participants are presented with numerous case studies, role modeling, guided discussions about problem management and instruction on how to effectively lead in the healthcare environment. The next CNO Academy will be offered Sept. 20-22, 2017, in Washington, D.C.
In addition to CNO training, AMN’s Center for the Advancement of Healthcare Professionals also offers a Transition-to-Practice Program geared toward helping new nursing graduates prepare for the high-pressure world of acute patient care. Conducted as a partnership with the healthcare organization, The Center participates in all aspects of the program, from recruitment to customized curriculum, in order to augment an organization’s existing program or launch a new one. Such a program is now in place at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where new nurses get on-the-job training from expert nurse preceptors through a year-long residency program.
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