Strategies for Meeting Future Nursing Workforce Needs

Although nurses are the largest provider of health care in the United States, the National Center of Workforce Analysis predicts that only 64% of the needed supply of registered nurses will be available in the future, leaving a national shortage of over 800,000 nurses. Shortages of bachelor-prepared nurses and the limited supply of qualified nursing faculty with advanced degrees impact the availability of health care services, particularly in rural and medically underserved areas. Nursing education training programs funded through The Colorado Trust's Health Professions Initiative developed innovative strategies to strengthen their program infrastructure, expand training capacity and respond to student needs. Nursing grantees employed strategies directed toward student support (70% of the sites), faculty development (50%) and employer partnerships (40%) that included student scholarships and life coaches, flexible class scheduling for working students, collaboration between educational institutions and employers, and nurse training programs within employer settings. All of the nursing grantees developed community partnerships to enhance and support their programs. This session will highlight results to date showing increases in on-site nursing training programs in employment settings, substantial decreases in the use of “traveling nurses,” decreased staffing costs in rural settings, improved retention of nursing employees, increased diversity of nurses trained and enhanced faculty education opportunities. In combination, findings from this evaluation demonstrate the value of these approaches in helping to meet the future needs for a diverse, well-trained and geographically dispersed nursing workforce, while addressing health care needs in rural and medical shortage areas.