The Heritage Fund, Community Foundation of Bartholomew County recently approved funding for the IUPUC Division of Nursing at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus (IUPUC) Faculty Retention Program.
The Heritage Foundation’s donation will be paid from the Community Fund with $50,000 awarded to the IUPUC School of Nursing in 2015, and $12,500 awarded in years 2016 through 2019.
Kristin Munn, Community Grants & Outreach Manager at the Heritage Fund stated, “The Heritage Fund is pleased to invest in IUPUC with the intent to grow the capacity of the nursing program. We are looking forward to the graduation of more qualified nurses to be employed locally and regionally and feel that this has the potential to ultimately improve health outcomes for Bartholomew County residents.”
The Economic Opportunities through Education by 2015 (EcO15) shares, “The demand for high-quality health care will increase during the next five years in SE Indiana as the 65+ age group increased by over 20 percent” (www.eco15.org/healthcare.php). “In addition to the aging population, there is a growing demand as a result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which introduces more healthcare consumers into the system.”
According to Peter McMenamin, senior policy fellow and health economist at the American Nurses Association, “Between now and 2022, there will be an expected half-million newly created nursing positions generated by growing demand. The supply of nurses with BSN degrees is inadequate. It is estimated that 555,100 RNs and APRNs will retire or leave the workforce by 2022.”
Additionally, says McMenamin, “In October 2013 the staffing firm AMN released its 2013 survey to Registered Nurses, which found that 23 percent of respondents age 55 or older indicated they will retire or switch to part-time employment in the very near future. That would mean 187,200 RNs would retire or change to non-nursing jobs with another 81,900 switching to part-time nurse employment. This totals 269,100 RNs leaving full-time employment in addition to the more than half million expected to retire.”
Dr. Beth Sharer is the division head at the IUPUC School of Nursing. Sharer outlines the current status and the societal impact of the projected scenario. “A circular supply-and-demand crisis is attributed in large part to a shortage of faculty qualified to teach in BSN programs. Even as our region is demanding more BSN-educated nurses, January 24, 2015, issue of Modern Healthcare summed up the dilemma in this way: A nursing faculty shortage is producing a circular crisis, as qualified students are being turned away from understaffed nursing schools at a time when more nurses are needed in the U.S. healthcare system.”
Sharer continues in saying, “Indiana will need 18,000 more nurses by 2020 (ICN, 2015). The Institute for Medicine (IOM) recommends hospitals should have at least 80 percent BSNs by 2020 which has been shown by research to decrease patient mortality. Indiana hospitals are averaging 50 percent BSN, with the ACA going to pay based on quality indicators. Not reaching the 80 percent BSN may result in reduced reimbursement to hospitals affecting our health care option in this region.”
According to Sharer, a strategic and innovative approach to tackling this crisis was implemented at IUPUC and has proven to be very effective. With the generous support of The Heritage Fund, and others, IUPUC is addressing the circular crisis head on with this faculty retention program. “This results-driven approach will have a positive impact on the health outcomes in our community that realizes the need for more, better-trained, healthcare providers in the region. Even as many schools of nursing are reducing their enrollment due to faculty shortages, IUPUC intends to build the capacity of the program resulting in more BSN graduates to serve Bartholomew County. IUPUC will accomplish this by stabilizing faculty numbers thus allowing increased student enrollment.”
For more information about IUPUC, please visit www.iupuc.edu, e-mail admissions@iupuc.edu, or call (812) 348-7390.