The nation faces a nursing shortage. At the same time that the aging Baby Boomer generation began to require additional healthcare resources, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated healthcare worker burnout and spurred an exodus of frontline healthcare providers. To put a number to the problem, a persistent national nursing shortage is expected through at least 2037, when we can expect to be short more than 200,000 registered nurses. The shortage extends to other areas of nursing as well and will be worse in rural as compared to urban areas.
Filling these gaps will not be easy. The challenges are dynamic, with rising inflation and a scarcity of workers driving up healthcare costs, and a fragmented system not well-equipped to treat a large, aging population with multiple chronic conditions. And we are still feeling the effects of a once-in-a-generation public health emergency that all but upended longstanding institutions like healthcare and education.
But there are answers, and it’s the most creative and collaborative on which we must double down. We are not just aiming to close the nursing workforce gap in the coming years so that more patients can receive the life-giving care of a nurse. We are also on a quest to give more students in our country a pathway toward a life with a fulfilling career and economic independence.
Nurses Middle College Nashville summer campers exploring nursing at HCA Healthcare-TriStar Division … [+]
Photo by Jupiter Murphy, courtesy of NursesMC Nashville.Collaborating for Care: Healthcare Training, Earlier in Education
The last decade or so has ushered in a new model for training the people who I would argue will become the most passionate caregivers: young men and women who know in their teens that they want to serve as nurses. Many of these students come from backgrounds plagued by systemic educational inequities that stymie their underlying dreams and potential.
Enter the Nurses Middle College (NursesMCTM ) network of non-profit, public charter high schools. NursesMC schools give high school students a clear pathway to college and a future career in healthcare. Across four years at these comprehensive public charter high schools, students receive a rigorous college-prep education infused with nursing content. Students take college courses on affiliated campuses, experience healthcare workplaces firsthand, and receive mentorship from professional nurses.
This model first caught the eye of Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) – an organization I founded 15 years ago to support educational transformation in my home state – because of this very clear mission and our belief that support for students can lead to success in life. If we can help focused teenagers begin to pursue their futures with targeted curriculum, then we can begin to chip away at not just the nursing shortage but also our state and nation’s high school graduation rate, college-going and completion rates, and even economic stability challenges.
A student at the Nurses Middle College Nashville summer camp practices with a stethoscope at the HCA … [+]
Photo by Jupiter Murphy, courtesy of NursesMC Nashville.The Success of Nurses Middle College Model
The first NursesMC school opened its doors in 2011 – the Rhode Island Nurses Institute Middle College Charter High School (RINI) in Providence. Founder and CEO Dr. Pamela McCue began with a mission to address three key pain points: first, the nursing shortage; second, lack of diversity in healthcare; and third, too few college- and career-ready high school graduates.
Today, more than 500 RINI graduates are seeing success:
- More than 75% of RINI’s graduates enroll in college within the first year after graduating. By comparison, the national college-going rate is currently 61.4%.
- Dropout rates at RINI are lower than Rhode Island state averages.
- Nearly 80% of RINI’s graduates work in healthcare.
- RINI ranks #1 in Rhode Island for college credits and workforce certificates earned.
More Schools, Momentum Underway
My hometown of Nashville is now in pursuit of opening Nurses Middle College Nashville (NursesMC Nashville). Like the rest of the nation, Tennessee faces its own nursing shortage, with statewide statistics showing a gap of 8,500 nurses through 2035.
All indications show that NursesMC Nashville will be a success when it opens its doors to a first class of 9th graders in 2025. Collaboration among education, workforce, and the healthcare industry continues to be the key ingredient to success. Just as is proven in the RINI model, students will experience college-prep curriculum through dual-enrollment classes and clinical workforce experience that results in an entry-level patient-care credential as well as at least three college credits, but most likely a full semester of credits.
Collaboration with local institutions of higher education and healthcare organizations is another key ingredient to the model’s success. Even before officially opening its doors, NursesMC Nashville offered Explore Nursing camps to 55 middle school students. Through the summer and fall break camps, students practiced CPR and other hands-on, life-saving patient care skills at state-of-the art healthcare facilities and collegiate institutions, including TriStar Health, which is an affiliate of HCA Healthcare in Nashville, Belmont University Inman College of Nursing, and Tennessee State University School of Nursing. It’s the hope that these students apply to enroll at NursesMC Nashville when they are ready to enter high school. This collaboration among these healthcare and educational institutions, as well as other local medical centers and clinics, community partners, and insurance companies is continuing with many already signed on to provide mentors and practicum providers.
The road to opening, however, was not without barriers. Led by Dr. Andrea Poynter – herself, an accomplished nurse and nursing professor who was discouraged from pursuing the profession when she was young – NursesMC Nashville will continue to face hurdles and need partnerships to thrive. Currently, a temporary facility is secured to start classes, with a search for a permanent home still ongoing. And while Bloomberg Philanthropies has heavily invested in the planning and launch phase, additional sustaining funding will always be a pursuit. These are unfortunately common challenges for high-quality public charter schools like NursesMC Nashville. But with the promise of fulfilling such a critical need, they are worthy pursuits.
Dr. Andrea Poynter, executive director, speaking about NursesMC Nashville at the Belmont University … [+]
Photo courtesy of Belmont University.A Pipeline for the Future
Think about the richness of the experience a future Nurses Middle College graduate can have. At a time when the connection between conventional schooling and future employment appears foggy to so many students, NursesMC graduates learn that health careers are both attainable and fulfilling. Through post-education partnerships with hospitals and clinics that can become a steady place to land in the workforce, our entire city can welcome the infusion of talented graduates who are committed to the incredible work of being a life-saving and life-giving nurse. We owe it to future students as well as our struggling healthcare system to engage in support for models like NursesMC and explore ways to scale them both inside and outside the healthcare sector.
Read the full article here
