Jan 13, 2010 | Press Releases
Contact: Gretchen Wright and Johanna Diaz – (202) 371-1999
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, New Jersey Nursing Initiative
Name 29 New Jersey Nursing Scholars
Trenton, NJ – What if New Jersey didn’t have enough nurses to meet the state’s health care needs? What if emergency rooms were understaffed, health clinics closed and nursing schools severely reduced their programs? The scenario is possible if nothing is done about the state’s looming nurse faculty shortage.
But the New Jersey Nursing Initiative (NJNI) is working to ensure that does not happen. This fall, NJNI has named 29 RWJF New Jersey Nursing Scholars. Two of them are from Bergen county: Erin Cleary, R.N., B.S.N., from Fort Lee, earning her M.S.N. in Nursing from Fairleigh Dickinson University; and Mary “Rusti” Restaino R.N., B.S.N, M.B.A., from Lyndhurst, earning her M.S.N. in Nursing from William Paterson University.
NJNI is a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Foundation (NJCCF). RWJF New Jersey Nursing Scholars receive generous benefits and support to help them complete their graduate or doctoral studies. In exchange, each Scholar makes a commitment to teach for at least three years, after graduation, as a full-time faculty member at a New Jersey based pre-licensure nursing program. That commitment means the Scholars will significantly increase the capacity of New Jersey nursing programs to educate the next generation of the state’s nursing workforce.
“We are facing a nurse faculty shortage of crisis proportions in this state,” said NJNI Program Director Susan Bakewell-Sachs, Ph.D., R.N., P.N.P.-B.C. “Unless we solve it, and put a sufficient number of nurse faculty in place, nursing schools will not be able to educate the nurses we need to meet our state’s future health care needs. Many current nurse faculty members are approaching retirement, and there are not enough replacements in the pipeline to fill their positions. NJNI is proud to be a part of the solution. The 29 RWJF New Jersey Nursing Scholars are among our state’s best and brightest. They will educate the next generation of nurses for years to come.” Bakewell-Sachs is dean of the School of Nursing, Health, and Exercise Science at The College of New Jersey.
“Being a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Jersey Nursing Scholar is a tremendous opportunity for me and others like me who realize the impending vast shortage of nurse educators and understand its impact on those who are entering the field of nursing. Words cannot express my gratitude and excitement for having been chosen to be a part of this important endeavor and it is my hope that the success of this program in New Jersey will encourage other states around the nation to follow suit in creating similar initiatives,” said Restaino.
The goal of NJNI is to increase the number of nurse faculty in the state, so there will be enough nurses to meet the needs of state residents. The Faculty Preparation Program has awarded $13.5M in grants to New Jersey based nursing programs and education collaboratives. Each Scholar has received a scholarship covering tuition and fees, and a $50,000 per year stipend to cover living expenses for the two to four years spent as full-time students.
Few practicing nurses have the qualifications to teach; only nine percent have a master’s degree, and just one percent of registered nurses have a doctorate. That is due to significant challenges to becoming nurse faculty, including the prerequisite that all nurse faculty obtain at least a master’s degree.
Many nurses practice first and get advanced degrees later. The lack of available scholarships has caused many nurse faculty members to pursue their graduate studies part-time. The median time span for nurses to proceed from masters to doctorate is now 15.9 years. As a result, the mean age of nurse faculty prepared at the doctoral level is 54. Because these nurses continue their education later in life, nurse faculty may not have long full-time teaching careers.
NJNI is attracting younger nurses to faculty roles; they are likely to enjoy a significantly longer teaching career than the average nurse faculty who joins mid career.
Scholars elsewhere in New Jersey are:
- Elizabeth Arnold, R.N., B.S.N., Kean University, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Rashida L. Atkins, M.S.N., A.P.N., F.N.P.-B.C., Rutgers, Ph.D. in Nursing Program
- Christine Bray, R.N., B.S.N., Richard Stockton College, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Andrew Fruhschien, R.N., B.S.N., N.J.E.M.T.B., Fairleigh Dickinson University, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Hye Jin Gehring, R.N., B.S.N., The College of New Jersey, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Primerose Germain, R.N., B.S.N., University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Caitlin Lehrfeld, R.N., B.S.N., Richard Stockton College, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Catherine Jirak Monetti, R.N., M.A., Rutgers, Ph.D. in Nursing Program
- Shanda Johnson, M.S., F.N.P., A.P.C.-N., Rutgers, Ph.D. in Nursing Program
- Tracy Kalemba, M.S.N., R.N., Rutgers, Ph.D. in Nursing Program
- Connie Kartoz, R.N., M.S., F.N.P.-B.C., Seton Hall University, Ph.D. in Nursing Program
- Sheila Linz, R.N., P.M.H.N.P.-B.C., A.P.N., Seton Hall University, Ph.D. in Nursing Program
- Maria LoGrippo, M.S.N., R.N., Seton Hall University, Ph.D. in Nursing Program
- Maryann Magloire-Wilson, R.N., B.A., University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Kristine Martinho, R.N., B.S.N., The College of New Jersey, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Aleesa Mobley, R.N., M.S., A.P.N.C., Rutgers, Ph.D. in Nursing Program
- Tara Lynne Parker, R.N., B.S.N., A.N.P., William Paterson University, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Latoya Rawlins, R.N., B.S.N., Monmouth University, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Patricia Saveriano, R.N., B.S.N., University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Robert Scoloveno, M.S., R.N., Rutgers, Ph.D. in Nursing Program
- Michelle Skiber, R.N., B.S.N., Monmouth University, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Jenée Skinner-Hamler, R.N., B.S.N., T.N.C.C., A.T.C.N., University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Kristi Stinson, R.N., B.S.N., M.S.N., A.P.N.-B.C., Seton Hall University, Ph.D. in Nursing Program
- Andrea Taylor, R.N., B.S.N., Kean University, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Lia Valentin, R.N., B.S.N., University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Munira Wells, M.S.N., R.N., Seton Hall University, Ph.D. in Nursing Program
- Dorothy Withers, R.N., B.S.N., University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
# # # #
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, we work with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 35 years we’ve brought experience, commitment and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those we serve. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, we expect to make a difference in your lifetime.
The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce is a business advocacy organization based in Trenton. Created in 1911, the State Chamber staff represents its members on a wide range of business and education issues at the State House and in Washington. The organization also links the state’s local and regional chambers on issues of importance through its grassroots legislative network.
Jan 13, 2010 | Press Releases
Contact: Gretchen Wright and Johanna Diaz – (202) 371-1999
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, New Jersey Nursing Initiative
Name 29 New Jersey Nursing Scholars
Trenton, NJ – What if New Jersey didn’t have enough nurses to meet the state’s health care needs? What if emergency rooms were understaffed, health clinics closed and nursing schools severely reduced their programs? The scenario is possible if nothing is done about the state’s looming nurse faculty shortage.
But the New Jersey Nursing Initiative (NJNI) is working to ensure that does not happen. This fall, NJNI has named 29 RWJF New Jersey Nursing Scholars. Five of them are from Atlantic county: Christine Bray, R.N., B.S.N., from Mays Landing, earning her M.S.N. in Nursing from Richard Stockton College; Caitlin Lehrfeld, R.N., B.S.N., from Egg Harbor Township, earning her M.S.N. in Nursing from Richard Stockton College; Patricia Saveriano, R.N., B.S.N., from Abescon, earning her M.S.N. in Nursing from University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ); Jenée Skinner-Hamler, R.N., B.S.N., T.N.C.C., A.T.C.N., from Mays Landing, earning her M.S.N. in Nursing from UMDNJ; and Lia Valentin, R.N., B.S.N., from Mays Landing, earning her M.S.N. in Nursing from UMDNJ.
NJNI is a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Foundation (NJCCF). RWJF New Jersey Nursing Scholars receive generous benefits and support to help them complete their graduate or doctoral studies. In exchange, each Scholar makes a commitment to teach for at least three years, after graduation, as a full-time faculty member at a New Jersey based pre-licensure nursing program. That commitment means the Scholars will significantly increase the capacity of New Jersey nursing programs to educate the next generation of the state’s nursing workforce.
“We are facing a nurse faculty shortage of crisis proportions in this state,” said NJNI Program Director Susan Bakewell-Sachs, Ph.D., R.N., P.N.P.-B.C. “Unless we solve it, and put a sufficient number of nurse faculty in place, nursing schools will not be able to educate the nurses we need to meet our state’s future health care needs. Many current nurse faculty members are approaching retirement, and there are not enough replacements in the pipeline to fill their positions. NJNI is proud to be a part of the solution. The 29 RWJF New Jersey Nursing Scholars are among our state’s best and brightest. They will educate the next generation of nurses for years to come.” Bakewell-Sachs is dean of the School of Nursing, Health, and Exercise Science at The College of New Jersey.
“Being a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Jersey Nursing Scholar is both an honor and a privilege. RWJF has provided a true sense of family and community since the beginning of this journey. To say that I am proud and grateful only scratches the surface. I look forward to the future and becoming an educator who not only imparts knowledge, but a love of the profession,” said Bray.
The goal of NJNI is to increase the number of nurse faculty in the state, so there will be enough nurses to meet the needs of state residents. The Faculty Preparation Program has awarded $13.5M in grants to New Jersey based nursing programs and education collaboratives. Each Scholar has received a scholarship covering tuition and fees, and a $50,000 per year stipend to cover living expenses for the two to four years spent as full-time students.
Few practicing nurses have the qualifications to teach; only nine percent have a master’s degree, and just one percent of registered nurses have a doctorate. That is due to significant challenges to becoming nurse faculty, including the prerequisite that all nurse faculty obtain at least a master’s degree.
Many nurses practice first and get advanced degrees later. The lack of available scholarships has caused many nurse faculty members to pursue their graduate studies part-time. The median time span for nurses to proceed from masters to doctorate is now 15.9 years. As a result, the mean age of nurse faculty prepared at the doctoral level is 54. Because these nurses continue their education later in life, nurse faculty may not have long full-time teaching careers.
NJNI is attracting younger nurses to faculty roles; they are likely to enjoy a significantly longer teaching career than the average nurse faculty who joins mid career.
Scholars elsewhere in New Jersey are:
- Elizabeth Arnold, R.N., B.S.N., Kean University, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Rashida L. Atkins, M.S.N., A.P.N., F.N.P.-B.C., Rutgers, Ph.D. in Nursing Program
- Erin Cleary, R.N., B.S.N., Fairleigh Dickinson University, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Andrew Fruhschien, R.N., B.S.N., N.J.E.M.T.B., Fairleigh Dickinson University, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Hye Jin Gehring, R.N., B.S.N., The College of New Jersey, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Primerose Germain, R.N., B.S.N., University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Catherine Jirak Monetti, R.N., M.A., Rutgers, Ph.D. in Nursing Program
- Shanda Johnson, M.S., F.N.P., A.P.C.-N., Rutgers, Ph.D. in Nursing Program
- Tracy Kalemba, M.S.N., R.N., Rutgers, Ph.D. in Nursing Program
- Connie Kartoz, R.N., M.S., F.N.P.-B.C., Seton Hall University, Ph.D. in Nursing Program
- Sheila Linz, R.N., P.M.H.N.P.-B.C., A.P.N., Seton Hall University, Ph.D. in Nursing Program
- Maria LoGrippo, M.S.N., R.N., Seton Hall University, Ph.D. in Nursing Program
- Maryann Magloire-Wilson, R.N., B.A., University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Kristine Martinho, R.N., B.S.N., The College of New Jersey, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Aleesa Mobley, R.N., M.S., A.P.N.C., Rutgers, Ph.D. in Nursing Program
- Tara Lynne Parker, R.N., B.S.N., A.N.P., William Paterson University, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Latoya Rawlins, R.N., B.S.N., Monmouth University, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Mary (Rusti) Restaino, R.N., B.S.N, M.B.A., William Paterson University, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Robert Scoloveno, M.S., R.N., Rutgers, Ph.D. in Nursing Program
- Michelle Skiber, R.N., B.S.N., Monmouth University, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Kristi Stinson, R.N., B.S.N., M.S.N., A.P.N.-B.C., Seton Hall University, Ph.D. in Nursing Program
- Andrea Taylor, R.N., B.S.N., Kean University, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
- Munira Wells, M.S.N., R.N., Seton Hall University, Ph.D. in Nursing Program
- Dorothy Withers, R.N., B.S.N., University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, M.S.N. in Nursing Program
# # # #
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, we work with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 35 years we’ve brought experience, commitment and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those we serve. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, we expect to make a difference in your lifetime.
The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce is a business advocacy organization based in Trenton. Created in 1911, the State Chamber staff represents its members on a wide range of business and education issues at the State House and in Washington. The organization also links the state’s local and regional chambers on issues of importance through its grassroots legislative network.
May 29, 2009 | Press Releases
VITALE STATEMENT ON HEALTH COMMITTEE
HEARING ON NURSING SHORTAGE
TRENTON – Senator Joseph F. Vitale, D-Middlesex, and Chairman of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the panel’s hearing on the shortage of nurses and nursing faculty members in the Garden State:
"Quality nurses are at the very backbone of any good health care system. They serve on the front-lines, providing care and compassion to patients seeking medical care and seniors seeking dignity and long-term care in their twilight years. They also sometimes serve as the first – and usually, most significant – contact for worried family members trying to get the best care possible for their sick loved ones.
"However, due to a confluence of events – including low wages for nursing educators and professionals in the field, an aging nursing workforce approaching retirement, and a lack of faculty members to train the next generation of nurses – New Jersey hospitals, health care facilities and nursing homes face a massive shortage in nurses that is going to get worse unless we take action.
"At the core of the nursing shortage is a shortage of nursing educators to prepare future generations of potential nurses for the job at hand. Each year, hundreds, if not thousands, of eager potential nurses are turned away, because there simply aren’t enough faculty members to teach them the trade.
"Last year, the Senate Health Committee and the Senate Budget Committee both approved S-626, a bill designed to establish a loan redemption program for nursing students who commit to becoming full-time nursing educators. The bill would divert a small, fixed percentage of the existing primary care physician and dentist loan redemption program, making it budget-neutral – a fact that is very important given the State’s current budgetary difficulties.
"The bill is pending consideration by the full Senate, and must go through the review process in the Assembly.
"This loan redemption program is one small part in combating the nursing shortage in New Jersey, but it will go a long way to allow young people who want to go into the nursing field to receive the education they need to succeed. Ultimately, we’re going to have to engage all stakeholders, including business interests, the health care community, public leaders and educators, to find long-term solutions to the shortage in nurses.
"The viability and success of New Jersey’s health care delivery system depends on the availability of well-trained nurses. We all have to do our part to make sure those nurses receive access to the education they need to be successful, and that our health care facilities have access to an educated and dependable nursing workforce for many years to come."
May 28, 2009 | Press Releases
Contact: Gretchen Wright and Johanna Diaz – (202) 371-1999; George Koodray – (609) 989-7888 x157
Innovative Public/Private Partnership
Launches at State Legislative Hearing
Trenton, NJ – To avert a severe nursing shortage that could cause grave harm to patient care in the state, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Foundation today announced a major new initiative designed to ensure that New Jersey will have the nursing workforce it needs to meet its future health care demands. Launched at a hearing before the state Senate’s Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee, the $22 million, five-year “New Jersey Nursing Initiative” will increase the number of nurse faculty in the state, so there will be enough faculty to educate the next generation of nurses. Its central component is a Faculty Preparation Program that includes grants to schools of nursing around the state, and support for 46 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Jersey Nursing Scholars who study to become faculty.
“There is a real danger that the short-term easing of the nursing shortage caused by the recession will create the false impression that we’ve found a solution to the more serious nursing shortage that lies ahead,” warned Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “We have not. Layoffs and older nurses staying in or returning to the workforce postpone, but do not fix, the problem. Unless we act now, New Jersey and the rest of this nation are heading for a nursing catastrophe that will affect us all. We ignore it at our peril. The quality of health care for patients will suffer if we don’t address it.”
A report from the New Jersey Collaborating Center for Nursing at Rutgers, released at the hearing, finds that the “average” registered nurse in New Jersey is a 50-year-old woman who works more than ten hours a day. More than half of the state’s RNs (54.4 percent) are between the ages of 46 and 60. This means that nearly a third of the state’s nursing workforce will reach retirement age in the next decade.
“Unfortunately, we are moving in the wrong direction when it comes to our nation’s supply of nurses,” added Joan Verplanck, president, New Jersey Chamber of Commerce. “Already, the annual cost to U.S. businesses of poor health care quality per covered employee is $1,900. Each year, inadequate care costs businesses as many as 45 million avoidable sick days—the equivalent of 180,000 full time employees calling in sick every day for a full year. This costs the nation’s employers more than $7 billion a year in lost productivity. That staggering price tag will increase as nurses become scarcer and the quality of care deteriorates as a result. That will translate into lower productivity and higher absenteeism in the workplace.”
“We are turning away qualified nursing applicants—young people who want to do this work, have the intelligence and talent for this work, and can make a difference through nursing,” said David Anthony Forrester, Ph.D., R.N., ANEF, associate dean and professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. “We’re turning them away because we have limited faculty to teach them. That’s a terrible shame, especially given the expected growth in demand for health care.”
The New Jersey Collaborating Center for Nursing also reports that there are 567 full-time nurse faculty working in the state. Their average age is 55, and 74 of them are expected to retire within five years. More than half the state’s nursing schools already limit student capacity due to limited faculty lines. For doctorally prepared faculty in particular, it can be challenging for schools to find qualified faculty applicants.
“Unless we take action, it will get worse,” said Susan Bakewell-Sachs, PhD, RN, PNP-BC, program director for the ‘New Jersey Nursing Initiative’ and dean of the School of Nursing, Health, and Exercise Science at The College of New Jersey. “We need to attract younger nurses to faculty roles, and that’s what the ‘New Jersey Nursing Initiative’ will do. Younger nurse faculty will teach longer, and will prepare many more of the nurses our state and our country need.”
There are four major components to the “New Jersey Nursing Initiative.” In addition to supporting the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Jersey Nursing Scholars with full tuition and fees, a $50,000 per year stipend and a laptop computer, the Faculty Preparation Program is working to develop, implement and evaluate new curricula for students at the masters and doctoral levels. The curricula is likely to become a model for the country.
The Faculty Preparation Program has awarded five grants totaling $13.5 million to New Jersey masters and doctoral level nursing programs. Grants of $3 million were awarded to the PhD in Nursing Programs at both Seton Hall University and Rutgers University. The MSN in Nursing Programs at two collaboratives—one comprised of William Paterson University, Richard Stockton College, Kean University, and The College of New Jersey; and the other of Fairleigh Dickinson, Monmouth University and Bloomfield College—each received $2.5 million, as did the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
The second “New Jersey Nursing Initiative” component is strategic working groups that are working to: create innovative approaches to increase faculty capacity; make New Jersey nurse faculty a preferred career; lead focused policy initiatives; increase sustainable funding; build local, regional and statewide collaboration; and develop creative strategies to increase nurse education capacity.
Third, to help students interested in pursuing nursing find programs with seats available, in 2010 the “New Jersey Nursing Initiative” will begin developing and piloting a centralized online application service that will allow prospective students to complete a single application and send it to schools of nursing across the state. This is part of a national initiative, being spearheaded by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, and New Jersey is one of its lead states.
Fourth, the “New Jersey Nursing Initiative” has a comprehensive website,
www.www.njni.org—a valuable resource for anyone interested in nursing in New Jersey. It features essential state nursing data, news, emerging issues, and more, with information that is not available anywhere else, including searchable listings of nursing programs filtered by degree, county and institution.
Witnesses were introduced at the hearing by Mary Ann Christopher, R.N., M.S.N., F.A.A.N, President, Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey, who chairs the “New Jersey Nursing Initiative’s” National Advisory Committee. They warned that New Jersey is heading for a serious—and avoidable—shortage of registered nurses that will jeopardize health care for all residents, from children with health problems, to women with high-risk pregnancies, to people in middle age who are beginning to develop preventable diseases, to seniors with multiple chronic conditions or who need palliative, end-of-life care. The “New Jersey Nursing Initiative” will work to ensure that the state will have the nurses it needs to meet the health care demands of all its residents.
# # # #
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, we work with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 35 years we’ve brought experience, commitment and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those we serve. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, we expect to make a difference in your lifetime.
The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce is a business advocacy organization based in Trenton. Created in 1911, the State Chamber staff represents its members on a wide range of business and education issues at the State House and in Washington. The organization also links the state’s local and regional chambers on issues of importance through its grassroots legislative network.
May 28, 2009 | Press Releases
Testimony of Risa Lavizzo-Mourey
President and CEO, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Before the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee
New Jersey State Legislature, Trenton, New Jersey
Thank you, Chairman Vitale, Vice Chair Weinberg, Senators Singer and Kean. And thanks to all your colleagues for joining us at this timely and important hearing on nursing workforce issues in New Jersey.
I am Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. We are the largest philanthropy based in New Jersey and the largest philanthropy in the nation devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans. Assuring that everyone in America has stable, affordable health care coverage is a key part of our mission, and we recognize that nurses are absolutely critical to providing the high-quality, patient-centered care we all deserve.
As you know, we are based here in New Jersey and have a special commitment to our home state. We are proud to support more than 150 programs right here: they include programs to increase the quality of cardiac care in hospitals; efforts to improve children’s health and development in Trenton; and planned initiatives to work with schools and communities to reverse the epidemic of childhood obesity.
Since our inception in 1972, we have had a deep, long-term commitment to nursing. Through our programs, we have worked to strengthen the nursing workforce; apply nurses’ knowledge to health and health care challenges; and advance nurses as leaders, so they can inform policy and practice. In one of many examples, in the late 1980s when most of the nation’s hospitals were struggling with a nursing shortage, we focused on an important underlying problem – the working conditions of hospital nurses. Our initiatives aimed to improve the work environment in order to keep nurses on the job, and enable them to give their best to patients.
We continue our efforts to tackle the multiple challenges facing the nursing profession. We understand that a strategic approach and a long view are essential to solving the nursing workforce shortage and other problems, which threaten to undermine the availability and quality of care here and across the nation.
Before I came to the Foundation, during my years in academic medicine, I made house calls with a nurse practitioner and developed a deep appreciation for nurses as partners in patient care and community health. Today I continue to practice part-time at a community health center, the Chandler Clinic in New Brunswick. At Chandler, and throughout my career, I have seen first-hand the vital role nurses play in delivering health care. Nurses care for patients with skill and compassion—and they do much more, beyond the bedside. There is significant evidence to document how nurses bring powerful insights to today’s health challenges, such as lack of access to insurance, rising costs, health disparities as well as patient safety and quality of care.
That is why the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation places such a high priority on nursing. But as we look at the field, we see a problem—no, make that a real crisis, in real time: a significant mismatch between the nursing workforce that’s in place and in the pipeline, and the growing health care needs of our state and our nation.
Just as baby boomers are aging, developing more chronic conditions that will cause their health care needs to grow dramatically, the nursing workforce we need to deliver their care is shrinking. A large percentage of the nursing workforce is nearing retirement, and when these nurses leave their jobs, they will take decades of wisdom and skill with them. These seasoned nurses don’t have a chance to transfer their knowledge to the next generation, because there are not enough younger, up-and-coming nurses to take their place. One key reason is that there aren’t sufficient faculty at nursing schools to prepare a generation of young people who want to become nurses.
If we don’t solve this problem, there is no question that patient care—and patients—will suffer.
Right now, we’re caught in a conundrum: the economic downturn is making the nursing shortage appear less pressing. But it isn’t. Let me explain. Some hospitals are laying off workers or closing their doors, which eliminates nursing jobs. At the same time, more older nurses are postponing retirement—or even coming out of retirement to return to work—often because their spouses lost jobs or their retirement savings collapsed. As a result, we are actually seeing a temporary increase of the ranks of nurses, and a decline in nursing vacancies.
So why are we here today? Because there is a real danger that the short-term easing of the nursing shortage in some communities will create the false impression that we’ve found a solution to the more serious nursing shortage that lies ahead. We have not. Layoffs and older nurses staying in or returning to the workforce postpone but do not fix the problem. Unless we act now, New Jersey, along with the rest of this nation, is heading for a nursing catastrophe that will affect us all.
We ignore the looming nursing crisis at our peril. It would be nothing less than reckless to avert our eyes and pretend the problem has gone away. The quality of health care for patients in this state and throughout the U.S. will suffer if we don’t address it.
The data paint a grim picture. A new report from the New Jersey Collaborating Center for Nursing at Rutgers finds that the “average” registered nurse in this state is a 50-year-old woman who works more than ten hours a day. More than half of New Jersey’s RNs (54.4 percent) are between the ages of 46 and 60. This means that nearly a third of the state’s nursing workforce will reach retirement age in the next decade.
The report also states that New Jersey nursing schools cannot help close the gap, because they do not have enough faculty to train the next generation of nurses.
As the effects of the recession wear off, this stark demographic reality will set in and demonstrate clearly that New Jersey will need more—not fewer—nurses in coming years. By 2025, the number of New Jersey residents who are 65 and older will increase by 39 percent. That will mean one in seven state residents will be a senior citizen. As a geriatrician, I’m especially mindful of the increased health care needs of this population.
We need solutions now. Solutions begin with putting more faculty in place to prepare the next generation of nurses.
So it is my great pleasure to announce an exciting new program that has the potential to transform the nursing workforce in this state: the New Jersey Nursing Initiative. The Initiative’s tagline is: “So a Nurse Will Be There for You.” That is our goal, to transform nursing education in the state so we will have the well prepared, diverse nursing faculty needed to educate nurses to meet the looming demand for nursing care.
This is a major initiative for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation—a five-year, $22 million investment. We are particularly proud that our partner is the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, which recognizes that the state’s businesses and its economy can only thrive if our health care system works, and that nurses are the beating heart of that system.
The New Jersey Nursing Initiative is led by Susan Bakewell-Sachs, Dean and Professor of Nursing at the School of Nursing, Health and Exercise Science, the College of New Jersey. Dean Bakewell-Sachs has been a perinatal nurse for 30 years, and has taught at the baccalaureate and masters’ degree levels. She will describe the initiative in detail and you will hear from her shortly.
The New Jersey Nursing Initiative is informed by an expert National Advisory Committee. Many of its members are here today. They include some of the best minds on health care and public policy in the nation. Our National Advisory Committee is led by Mary Ann Christopher, President and Chief Executive Officer of Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey, and our moderator this morning. I’d like to recognize the National Advisory Committee members who are seated in the first row.
We expect the New Jersey Nursing Initiative to be part of the solution to the nursing workforce challenges facing this state. We expect to make New Jersey a nursing model and a leader for the nation. We aim to ensure that in this state a nurse will be there for you. Nurses protect our health, save lives and reduce health care costs. Substantive research bears this out. A compelling report by the Institute of Medicine found that nurses are the health care professionals most likely to intercept medical errors, which cost hospitals over $3 billion annually (IOM, Keeping Patients Safe, 2004).
As a Foundation, we see our role as taking a long view and helping address and solve problems that lie ahead. I know your responsibility as lawmakers is to do the same. Thank you for your time this morning, and I am gratified to know that you take seriously the nurse and nurse faculty shortages in our state. We would like to come back to update you on nursing issues in our state, and to provide a progress report on the work of the New Jersey Nursing Initiative.
At the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, we consider solving nursing workforce issues to be an essential part of our mandate to improve health care. Without enough nurse faculty to prepare the next generation of nurses, no health reform plan—state or nationwide—can be fully effective, because patients will go without the care they need and our state will struggle to thrive, be healthy and prosper. We can—and must—do better. Thank you.
May 28, 2009 | Press Releases
Testimony of Susan Bakewell-Sachs
Dean and Professor of Nursing
School of Nursing, Health and Exercise Science, The College of New Jersey
Before the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee
New Jersey State Legislature, Trenton, New Jersey
Thank you, Chairman Vitale, Vice Chair Weinberg and all the Senators on this Committee for holding this hearing. Nursing workforce issues are critically important to New Jersey’s health, now and in the future. I commend you for examining this issue now, before today’s nurse faculty shortage leads to tomorrow’s crisis: a registered nurse shortage that will harm the quality of patient care in our state.
Thank you also to Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey, and to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, for doing so much to address this issue in New Jersey and devoting resources to solutions. I want to specifically recognize Dr. Susan B. Hassmiller, your senior advisor for nursing, who was instrumental in getting the New Jersey Nursing Initiative in place.
I am Susan Bakewell-Sachs, PhD, RN, PNP-BC, Director of the New Jersey Nursing Initiative and Dean of the School of Nursing, Health, and Exercise Science at The College of New Jersey. I would like to ask some of the experts—including college presidents and deans to stand and be recognized. I would also like our stellar New Jersey Nursing Initiative workgroup chairs and committee members—who have joined us today to stand. Thanks to all of you.
We are here to address an issue of tremendous importance to everyone in this state who is a patient, may be a patient, or expects to need health care in coming years—in other words, to all of us. I’ll begin by sharing some stark numbers. According to New Jersey Collaborating Center for Nursing 2008 survey data, there are 567 full-time nurse faculty working in our state. Their average age is 55, and 74 of them are expected to retire within five years. More than half our nursing schools already limit student capacity due to limited faculty lines and ability to fill vacancies. For doctorally prepared faculty in particular, it can be challenging for schools to find qualified faculty applicants. Unless we take action, it will get worse.
The nurse faculty pipeline is at the center of a looming registered nursing shortage that should alarm us all. Nurse faculty must have at least a master’s degree in nursing and four-year colleges and universities need nurses with doctorates. But nurses tend to practice first and get advanced degrees later. In addition, they are more likely to pursue graduate study part-time due to lack of scholarship funds. The average age of nurses at completion of the doctoral degree is 46 years, compared to 33 years for those in other disciplines; it takes nurses an average of 8.3 years to complete their doctorates, compared to 6.8 years for others. The median time span for nurses to proceed from masters to doctorate is 15.9 years. Therefore, few practicing nurses have the qualifications to teach; only nine percent have a master’s degree, and just one percent of registered nurses have a doctorate.
Because nurses tend to continue their education later in life, and because of demand for nurses with masters degrees and doctorates in practice settings, nurse faculty may not have long full-time teaching careers. The mean age of nurse faculty prepared at the master’s level is 49 years for the nation. The mean age of nurse faculty prepared at the doctoral level is 54 for the nation. That’s a significant problem at a time when we lack the nurse faculty we need to prepare the next generation of nurses to meet growing demand for health care.
We need to attract younger nurses to faculty roles, and that’s what the New Jersey Nursing Initiative will do. Investing in the advanced education of younger nurses offers a longer term payback as nurse faculty. Younger nurse faculty will teach for longer, and will prepare many more of the nurses our state and our country need.
That’s one reason I am so proud to be the Program Director of the New Jersey Nursing Initiative, which we launch here today. Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey described what this Initiative will do. I’d like to provide some details, focusing on its four main components.
First, the New Jersey Nursing Initiative Faculty Preparation Program, led by Nicholas Pelzer of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, will produce at least 46 new nurse faculty for the state. We call them Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Jersey Nursing Scholars. They are being selected now and you will hear from one of them shortly. Each Scholar receives full tuition and fees, a $50,000 per year stipend—and a laptop computer. These full-time graduate students will complete masters and doctoral degrees. In this way, our Faculty Preparation Program will directly fill nurse faculty positions and hopefully expand the number of available seats at New Jersey schools of nursing. It also is working to develop, implement and evaluate new curricula that will provide students at the master’s and doctoral levels with the education and expertise they need to pursue careers as nurse faculty. We expect the curricula to become a model for the country.
Second, the Initiative is engaging diverse partners, including business and government leaders, who have a stake in ensuring that our health care system has enough registered nurses to provide the care the Garden State needs. These partners will help develop policy, lead local and regional collaborative efforts and identify funding to ensure that there are faculty to educate the nurses who will be needed in the state. Our strategic working groups have the charge to: create innovative approaches to increase faculty capacity; make New Jersey nurse faculty a preferred career; lead focused policy initiatives; increase sustainable funding; build local, regional and statewide collaboration; and develop creative strategies to increase nurse education capacity.
Third, to help students interested in pursuing nursing find programs with seats available, in 2010 the New Jersey Nursing Initiative will begin developing and piloting a centralized online application service that will allow prospective students to complete a single application and send it to schools of nursing across the state. This is part of a national initiative, being spearheaded by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, and New Jersey is one of its lead states. We have invited nursing program deans and directors to confer with us as we pilot this groundbreaking tool that will help keep well-qualified nursing candidates in our state.
Fourth, we have a comprehensive website,
www.www.njni.org, that features key information on New Jersey nursing, news, data, emerging issues, and more. I encourage you to visit it to view profiles of some of our state’s remarkable nurse faculty and more, and to come back often to see the rich materials we will post in the months ahead.
The slogan for the New Jersey Nursing Initiative is, “so a nurse will be there for you.” We all hope that will be the case, for ourselves and our families. Right now, New Jersey is on a path to have a significantly smaller nursing workforce than we will need in coming years. A nurse won’t be there for many of us, unless we change course very quickly and increase our capacity to educate nurses.
I want to conclude by warning you not to be distracted, or lulled into complacency, by the current recession. We face a serious nurse faculty shortage right now, today. Applications for nursing remain strong but have slowed in the past two years compared to three to five years ago. The College of New Jersey for the entering nursing class of 2009, had 440 applicants for 60 seats. The same is true at nursing schools across this state because the programs are at or above capacity. The number of nurse faculty is a top reason for this limited capacity. Turning qualified applicants away, combined with a temporary easing of the nursing shortage due to the recession, is creating a false view of the situation. In fact, we face a critical shortage of nurse faculty and nurses just as baby boomer nurses are beginning to retire.
The result will be a serious—and avoidable—shortage of registered nurses that will jeopardize health care for all of us, from children with health problems, to women with high-risk pregnancies, to people in middle age who are beginning to develop preventable diseases, to seniors with multiple chronic conditions or who need palliative, end-of-life care.
We can avoid this crisis, and the New Jersey Nursing Initiative is committed to helping the state do so. Thank you.
