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AACN
ENDORSES NURSE EMPLOYMENT AND
EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT ACT AIMED AT
ADDRESSING THE NATION'S NURSING SHORTAGE
WASHINGTON,
D.C., April 5, 2001 -- The American Association of Colleges
of Nursing (AACN) supports legislation introduced today by
Senators Tim Hutchinson (R-AR) and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
designed to address the current and impending nursing shortage
in our country. AACN worked closely with the senators and
fellow nursing organizations on crafting the NEED Act - the
Nursing Employment and Education Development Act - which calls
for innovative, new approaches to relieve this critical shortage.
"The NEED Act is an important step forward on the road to
addressing one of health care's greatest concerns, the diminishing
supply of practicing nurses in our country," stated Dr. Carolyn
A. Williams, president of AACN and dean of the University
of Kentucky's College of Nursing. "Mounting reports on the
shortage in the media coupled with an aging nursing workforce
and a decline in enrollments at nursing colleges have sounded
an alarm. AACN is pleased to support the NEED Act and its
goals of educating and retaining nurses as well as preparing
nursing faculty."
The
NEED Act is targeted toward enhancing the image of nursing
as an attractive career choice for young people and minorities;
strengthening the current nursing workforce; and providing
a mechanism for attracting nursing faculty. Specific components
of this legislation include:
- establishing
a fast track nursing faculty education and loan program;
- providing
grants for both health care facilities and partnerships
between schools of nursing and health care facilities to
develop internship and residency programs for nursing program
graduates;
- authorizing
funding for a national image campaign centered around careers
in nursing;
- establishing
a nursing corps to provide scholarships to students who
agree to work as nurses in underserved locations around
the country and in facilities with the greatest need for
nursing personnel;
- providing
grant monies to nursing education providers to encourage
creative strategies to prepare and retain nurses in their
communities; and
- strengthening
the current nursing workforce by providing grant monies
and a career ladder to provide a professional pathway for
nurses and a means to move ahead.
"We
believe the NEED Act will open new doors to nursing education
to both new and existing nurses," Williams added. "By investing
in nurses and education, this legislation will help to improve
the quality of patient care across health care settings. AACN
and its member universities will continue its work with our
congressional leaders to ensure that this important piece
of legislation is enacted."
The American Association of
Colleges of Nursing is the national voice for university and
four-year-college education programs in nursing. Representing
more than 580 member schools of nursing at public and private
institutions nationwide, AACN's educational, research, governmental
advocacy, data collection, publications, and other programs
work to establish quality standards for bachelor's- and graduate-degree
nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement
those standards, influence the nursing profession to improve
health care, and promote public support of baccalaureate and
graduate nursing education, research, and practice. Web site:
http://www.aacn.nche.edu
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CONTACT:
Robert Rosseter
(202) 463-6930, x231
rrosseter@aacn.nche.edu
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