Thanks, in part, to technology, home care is becoming a more enticing setting for newly trained nurses. Innovations around hospital-at-home and patient monitoring have allowed nurses to have more data and, therefore, feel more in control of the home setting, according to Patty Knecht, PhD, RN, chief nursing officer, Ascend Learning, and Molly Carpenter, director of workforce strategy and development, LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston. They spoke to McKnight’s Home Care earlier this month about the state of nursing and the newly introduced Train More Nurses Act for a Newsmakers podcast.
The Train More Nurses Act, which has been introduced in both houses of Congress, represents a positive development to address the dire shortage of nursing faculty, said Patty Knecht, PhD, RN, Chief Nursing Officer, Ascend Learning, and Molly Carpenter, Director of Workforce Strategy and Development, LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston. It would direct the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Labor to conduct a review of nursing grant programs to find ways to increase faculty at nursing schools, especially those in underserved areas. It also would increase pathways for licensed practical nurses to become registered nurses. The faculty shortage in nursing schools means schools are turning away 80,000 students each year. The nursing shortage is even worse in the long-term care sector because it doesn’t have the “street cred” of hospitals. Still, nursing students are gaining more exposure to long-term care and home care in their training.
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Show contributors:
McKnight’s Home Care Editor Liza Berger; Patty Knecht, PhD, RN, Chief Nursing Officer, Ascend Learning; and Molly Carpenter, Director of Workforce Strategy and Development, LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston