Plan in works to prep more nurses

Two new laws that call for more nurses have the Division of Nursing scrambling to create more classroom space and hopefully double the number of graduates.

An aging and growing California population will require another 43,000 nurses in the next decade, estimates the Public Policy Institute of California. Yet the state’s colleges and universities prepare only one-third of the new nurses entering the work force, with the rest coming from out of state.

Two of the last bills from the 1999 legislative session signed by Gov. Gray Davis were AB 394, which will increase nurse-to-patient ratios in hospitals, and AB 655, a directive to plan a way to graduate more nursing students from California community colleges, UCs and CSUs.

Currently, 70 percent of new nurses licensed in the state get their training at community colleges. But more nurses need baccalaureate-level training to move into sorely-needed positions as nurse practitioners, midwives and public health nurses, said Robyn Nelson, chair of the division of nursing at CSUS.

“In many settings, nurses are providing primary care,” said Nelson. “If you don’t have the RNs in the first place, you won’t have the midlevel practitioners to provide quality and cost-effective care.”

To encourage more nurses to get a bachelor’s degree, CSUS is creating a joint program with Sacramento City College to better coordinate their first two years of training. Nelson said she hopes better articulation of the lower division courses from a two-year degree and validating the knowledge of working nurses will increase applicants to the baccalaureate program.

However, more applicants will create another problem. Last semester, the department could only accept 50 of the 100 qualified applicants, Nelson said.

Increasing enrollment, especially in the first two years of coursework, will require more classroom space, faculty and money. The report required by AB 655, due in April, is a first step to setting new state funding levels, Nelson said.

In the meantime, she said the department is seeking the help of alumna with a private fund-raising effort to add an 800-square foot prefabricated building for a skills resource center.

“California is way at the bottom in terms of the number of nurses per 100,000 people,” said Nelson, adding that some analysts are referring to the shortage as a public health crisis.

According to Nelson, the need for highly-trained nurses isn’t as great in long-term, community settings, where nursing assistants can fill much of the need, as in hospitals.

“But, do you want to wait until you get into the hospital to see a nurse? People need to see one before that,” Nelson said.