Background

North Carolina is facing a nursing workforce crisis that will eventually impact all citizens of the state. The NC Center for Nursing RN Supply and Demand forecasting model has projected that without significant intervention, by 2020 there will be a potential shortage of 32,000 registered nurses in North Carolina (2006) . There is a current shortage of nursing faculty that prevents expanding nursing programs and the even greater projected faculty shortage may result in decreasing the production of new nurses in the near future. Faculty vacancy rates as of October 1, 2007 were just over 5% for both full and part time positions with 59 full-time and 38 part-time nursing faculty positions unfilled in North Carolina (2008).

One component of this faculty shortage is the inadequate pipeline of nurses that are academically prepared to enter faculty roles. Currently 65% of new nursing graduates are being educated in ADN programs. While a relatively quick fix to a workforce shortage for increasing registered nurses in the workforce, ADN nurses rarely obtain the educational requirements necessary for faculty roles. A master’s degree in nursing is considered to be the minimum requirement for nursing faculty and 80% of the nurses in North Carolina who hold master’s degrees began their nursing education at the BSN level. It is therefore critical to identify and implement new ways to increase the number of ADN graduates who complete baccalaureate education and, thereby, increase the number of BSN prepared nurses.

Implementation of a successful program that simultaneously enrolls students in ADN and BSN programs will provide one option to meet these goals. In a longitudinal study conducted in NC only 15% of nurses who graduated in nursing with an associate degree ever completed a bachelor’s degree and only 3% completed a masters in nursing (2006). With an increasing number of our new nurses graduating from associate degree programs the result is a decreasing faculty pipeline.

RIBN Project Partners
The three NC Partners are Asheville Buncombe Technical Community College (ABTCC), Western Carolina University (WCU) and the Foundation for Nursing Excellence (FNE). FNE provides administrative support, coordination and evaluation components for the project. Through the multi-regional project funded by RWJF and the Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence in NYC and with advice from a national team of experts, we participate in working sessions with colleagues involved in adapting this model in the metropolitan NY area, sharing strategies for curriculum development and faculty development as well as evaluation tools. A Local Advisory Committee of healthcare leaders in western NC and other key stakeholders provide feedback and advice for the successful implementation of the model in North Carolina. Members of the LAC include the chief nursing officers of Mission Hospitals, Harris Regional Hospital, Cherokee Indian Hospital Authority, Charles George VA Medical Center, Mountain AHEC, the Buncombe County Health Director and a representative from the NC state Educational Assistance Authority. Both The Duke Endowment and General Administration of the University of North Carolina have provided funds to help support this initiative.


RIBN Project Goals
This project will adapt the Oregon Consortium for Nursing Education (OCNE) model for dually admitting qualified students into a seamless educational tract whereby the student progresses as follows: 1) meets the prerequisites for both programs at the community college level in Year 1; 2) enters the two-year associate degree program at the community college, completes that program and achieves licensure as a registered nurse (Years 2 & 3); and 3) completes one additional year of study at the baccalaureate level to achieve a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree (Year 4).

Through a partnership between the associate degree program at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College and the state-funded baccalaureate program at Western Carolina University, this project will:

    1) increase the number of professional nurses with baccalaureate degrees and thereby, increase the pool of nurses poised to pursue education at the masters and doctoral levels, creating a long-term solution to the nursing and nursing faculty shortage;
2) increase the proportion of baccalaureate nurses from racially and ethnically diverse groups; and
3) expand the number of nursing students educated in public health and gerontological nursing thereby better preparing them to meet the future needs of our citizens.