CUNY TASK FORCE ISSUES RECOMMENDATIONS
TO ADDRESS CITY’S NURSING CRISIS
June 10, 2002
Report calls for more faculty, aggressive recruiting, tougher accountability, more financial support for students
New York, NY (June 11, 2002) – Responding to New York’s tremendous nursing shortage, and based on the recommendations of a City University of New York Nursing Task Force, CUNY announced today that it would add 30 full-time nursing professors to its programs this year.
In addition to adding professors, the Task Force Report, released this week, also calls for recruiting better-qualified students to nursing schools, improved accountability of nursing programs, increased financial support for students, and development of partnerships with the health care industry. The recommendations come out of a nine-month study commissioned by CUNY and prepared by an 11-member panel chaired by Borough of Manhattan Community College President Antonio Pérez.
The study points out that while CUNY remains one of the city’s largest sources of nurses – providing 36 percent of registered nurses to the city in 2001 – the number of graduates from CUNY nursing programs has dropped by 39 percent since 1995.
“The perception of nursing among many students is out of touch with today’s reality,” Dr. Perez said. “Nursing offers incredible opportunities for exercising leadership, independent judgment and analytical skills. BMCC students graduating with an associate degree in nursing are walking into $55,000 a year jobs. And senior and specialty nurses can earn upwards of $100,000. We need to get the word out.”
Some of the key recommendations include the following:
- Better recruitment. CUNY needs to admit better-qualified students into its nursing programs and rigorously enforce grade point average requirements to enter and stay in them. CUNY must also work with the New York City Board of Education to improve science and math instruction for all high school students. Encourage men, Hispanics and other under-represented groups to pursue nursing careers.
One of the creative recruitment campaigns already being piloted at BMCC is “Nursing Now,” a program for high school students interested in nursing which enables them to begin taking college-level pre-nursing courses. Dr. Perez emphasized that this program must be expanded throughout the CUNY system, and should be adopted in other cities as well.
- Expand staffing. Hire more nursing school faculty, make teaching salaries more competitive and add better incentives. Establish a doctoral nursing program to provide the city with nurse educators, researchers and top administrators and to help CUNY replenish its nursing faculty.
- More student support. Create a Nursing Honors Program that offers free tuition, an accelerated program, mentoring and paid internships for highly qualified nursing candidates of all ages. Offer more nursing and pre-nursing courses on evenings and weekends to accommodate working students. Work to expand the paid internships, scholarships, loan forgiveness and work release programs to enable nursing students who work to devote more time to studying.
- Accountability. Hold academically weak CUNY nursing programs to a detailed action plan with timetables for improving student outcomes, and close programs that do not improve.
- Enhance outcomes. Centrally fund a National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN) review course and make it available for free to all nursing students and recent graduates.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Town & Village
