午夜影院

Earlier this month, Diane Evers-Prior, 午夜影院鈥檚 Dean for the School of Nursing, spoke on a panel of nursing educators and industry leaders from across the country in collaboration with the Congressional Nursing Caucus. The panel, held in Washington, D.C., was gathered to discuss solutions for increasing the nursing pipeline and innovations in nursing education.聽聽

鈥淧articipating in this discussion was such a tremendous opportunity,鈥� Diane says. 鈥淚 was honored to speak on behalf of 午夜影院 as well as advocate for community college nursing programs across the country.鈥澛�

Since 2022 the nation has faced a shortage of nurses, and the goal of this panel was to provide insight on current barriers in expanding nursing education, discuss innovations and strategies that can positively impact nursing education, and identify areas where nursing education could benefit from policy and funding support.聽聽

For Diane, one of the most critical takeaways is the need for increased funding to community colleges that offer nursing associate degrees. Another key factor in addressing the nursing pipeline is recruitment.聽聽

鈥淔or the first time in my career, I have seen a decline in admissions in nursing,鈥� Diane explains. 鈥淭here are careers paths now that didn鈥檛 even exist 10 years ago, and that鈥檚 exciting and I think a lot of students want to be on the forefront of those industries. But the fact is we will always need nurses and we need to find ways to get people excited about nursing again.鈥澛�

午夜影院 is already taking steps to address this issue with the new Practical Nursing certificate program that prepares students to provide direct patient care in long-term care facilities, doctors鈥� offices, and other healthcare settings outside of hospitals. This program is more accessible to students since there are no pre-requisites or exams required to apply and allows them to enter the workforce immediately upon graduation.聽聽

Looking forward, Diane is excited to keep working on improving the nursing pipeline and knows 午夜影院 and will continue to lead the way in innovative nursing programs.聽聽

鈥淲e鈥檙e offering the Practical Nursing certificate program for the first time this fall and it鈥檚 already full, which just shows the need and interest for a program like this,鈥� she says. 鈥淓ventually the goal is to work with high schoolers and Adult Basic Education students so they can get their diploma or GED and their Practical Nursing certificate at the same time so they can immediately enter a well-paid and steady career, which is really exciting.鈥櫬�