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| The five-year public/private initiative proposed by Gov. Schwarzenegger would: |
1. Provide $90 million to expand and increase nurse education opportunities.
2. Support partnerships between nursing schools and health facilities to build more educational programs
3. Recruit more qualified instructors.
4. Develop new avenues to nursing careers with high school and college nursing academies and apprenticeships.
5. Seek additional funds for nurse education from federal and other funding sources. |
California Nurse Education Initiative
Under Schwarzenegger’s California Nurse Education Initiative, the state will provide $18 million a year for the next five years to fund nurse education, primarily in partnership with California Community Colleges and the private sector. His five-point program will seek to expand capacity by encouraging partnerships between providers and schools, including some state universities, to educate nurses, recruiting additional nurse educators, and creating nursing academies at high schools and colleges.
“The money for our initiative will allow us to expand nurse education at our colleges, recruit former nurses to help teach in our nursing schools, and create statewide on-the-job nursing training programs and much, much more,” said Schwarzenegger on his weekly radio address in mid-April.
Schwarzenegger said the hospital industry reports a shortage of about 14,000 registered nurses in the state, a 12-15% vacancy rate, which was one reason he issued an executive order freezing further implementation of California’s landmark nurse staffing ratios law Jan. 1. While his freezing of lowering med-surg nurse-to-patient ratios from 1:6 to 1:5 was overturned in a court challenge by the California Nurses Association, (CNA), the governor has filed an appeal that is pending.
CNA President Deborah Burger challenged hospital shortage figures, saying Kaiser Permanente facilities and many others have successfully met the ratios. She also contends that the ratios law has increased workplace and patient safety, a key factor in nurse satisfaction.
Politics aside, Jones says the need for more nurses is very real as the baby boom generation begins hitting retirement age in 2010, putting additional strain on healthcare resources.
“We need to be worried about the nursing shortage we have looming in front of us, but I’m optimistic we can do something to mitigate its severe impact,” says Jones.
John Leighty is a freelance writer for Nursweek.
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