Supporting Education for Those Who Support Communities' Health

As thousands of New Jersey nursing students prepare for graduation, it behooves us to think about their future, their role in the community and how we can support them. Professional nurses are a crucial link in our healthcare system and in the health of our communities.

Demand for nurses is certainly rising. The number of people over the age of 65 is expected to increase from 18 percent in 2014 to 23 percent in 2024 and many of them will need a nurse's care in hospitals and in the home. New Jersey will see a nursing shortfall of 10 percent by 2030, according a recent study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

An increasing proportion of patient care in recent years requires a sophisticated grounding in the sciences, and this trend will only accelerate. Nurses are called on to provide "evidence-based practice," which means they know how to evaluate scientific and practice data and make independent judgments on an hourly basis that can affect the quality of patient care. Keeping a hospital or home free of infection, administering oxygen to a patient with an inflammatory lung disease, or measuring accurately the blood pressure of child who can't sit still—none of these things can be done by following instructions by rote. They require the judgment of a well-educated and competent nurse. Changes in the healthcare landscape are putting more decisions like these at the discretion of nurses.

To manage this expanded role, it is more important than ever that nurses receive a thorough grounding in the sciences. Four-year college programs that award a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree are better equipped than vocational schools or community colleges to fulfill this need. The BSN is arduous, but it is the best way to provide nurses with tools they will need to master all aspects of nursing, including new technology. It instills the critical thinking skills that guide the decision-making process and prepares them to step into the highest acuity areas of nursing.

Nurses tend to work in the background, but they have an outsized effect on the health of the community. We all have loved ones who will need the care of a nurse at some point, either in the hospital or in the home. Nurses are needed more than ever in underserved areas where preventative care might not be available and patients have acute needs. The best way to encourage nurses to work in these areas is to recruit them. Partners for Health Foundation supports nursing education through scholarships, which can make all the difference to students, many of whom need to work while attending school.

It takes a truly gifted and determined person to become a nurse. A nursing student's education can be grueling, with intense classes, rotations, long shifts and many competing demands. But that intense study and dedication pay big dividends for the community.

Gloria C. Essoka, Ph.D., R.N.
Trustee, Grant's Committee Chair, Partners for Health Foundation, Montclair, NJ