Registered nurses graduating from New York nursing degree programs have more than doubled since 2002 according to the University at Albany's Center for Health Workforce Studies report. The number of bachelor's degrees awarded to nursing students has spiked from 4,913 in 2011 to 5,866 in 2014. Over that same time period, those earning two-year associate degrees dropped slightly from 5,398 to 5,263, marking the first time four-year nursing degrees outpaced two-year degrees. "From what we've seen looking at nursing demand, it's quite likely that the associate degree nurses who are finding challenges in terms of getting a job might be the ones who are most incentivized to go on for their bachelor's," said Jean Moore, Director of the Center for …show more content…
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ employment projections, by 2012-2022 there will be a need for 525,000 replacements nurses in the workforce, bringing the total number of job openings for nurses due to growth and replacements to 1.05 million by 2022. Never before have RNs, LPNs and general nurse practitioners been more in demand. One way colleges have responded to the desperate needs of the present and future nursing community has been to “blend” online educational programs with practical clinical experiences. The rise in specialized health care needs, fueled by a baby boom generation wading into retirement, has changed the needs of the healthcare community and posed a challenge to the health care educational community. The median age of nurses is 46. More than 50 percent of the nursing workforce is close to retirement. And recent reforms in healthcare will give millions of people access to the system. Many current younger nurses need more education. Below are projections of future needs in the …show more content…
In some colleges and universities that offer nursing courses online, lectures have been eliminated or replaced with interactive seminars. Some online nursing programs, for example, provide interactive seminars to students in all nursing courses. Seminars have multiple uses, including providing a platform for faculty to present information not yet available in a textbook, addressing topics that students have expressed an interest in, or answering questions on course content. Use of online seminars helps learners make connections among readings, online discussion, and written assignments. The instructor promotes these connections by clarifying concepts or helping learners think more deeply about a particular issue. Through this process, learners don’t simply memorize material for the sake of later “regurgitating” it on an exam. Instead, they must demonstrate mastery of the material, which faculty evaluates based on student posts on interactive discussion boards and written papers. In short, distance education provides a deeper cognitive