OPINION:
Claire Courchane’s article “With nurse shortage looming, America needs shot in the arm,” (Page 1, June 7) called out the elephant in the waiting room: We’re on the verge of a national nursing shortage that could have crippling effects on our health care system.
Gloomy economic conditions and tepid hiring of nurses are fanning an illusion that the labor shortage is letting up. Nothing is further from the truth. With more nurses nearing retirement, fewer nursing applicants able to access higher education and health care dollars limited, there is no end in sight.
We need a new paradigm. The old model of nursing education may no longer be working, just as we know that the paradigm of patient care delivery is changing. We also know that less health care will be delivered in the hospital setting in the future. Are we optimally preparing the nurses who are in school for the new paradigm?
The cure for this problem is rooted in innovating and modernizing nursing education and creating environments for nurses to make learning and teaching a lifelong career priority. Nurses currently in the work force can provide invaluable insights into the skills and competencies that are essential for today’s nurse leader; we need to explore more aggressively non-tenure tracks that enable today’s nurse professionals to keep one foot in service while offering their expertise to support the development of new nurses.
Many nurses in our company serve as adjunct professors at distinguished universities in addition to working at their full-time positions. They provide a critical voice from the marketplace that helps prepare nursing students for the challenges they’ll encounter today and in the future. Similarly, we’ve collaborated with universities in support of unique nurse-executive curricula focused on sharpening nurses’ executive mindset through leadership, communication and business skills.
We have to find ways to collaborate differently, share resources and deliver greater value. Now is the time for partners across the health industry to work together to fill this critical labor shortage. By creating a new paradigm for nursing education, we will empower today’s nurses to become tomorrow’s nurse leaders.
DAWN BAZARKO
Senior Vice President
Center for Nursing Advancement UnitedHealth Group
Minnetonka, Minn.
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