Purpose-Driven Nurse & Curriculum Creator | EdTech | Empowering Healthcare Education | Advocate for Nursing Excellence, Nurse Reimbursement, and Healthcare Policy Change
Could apprenticeships help reduce #nurse and #CNA vacancies? Maybe it's a great solution. Or, maybe it's the beginning of the end for #nursing students who participate. #Apprenticeships have been a part of the U.S. #workforce since the National Apprenticeship Act was signed into law in 1937. These programs are driven by the industry and employers who invest in #careerpathways for employers. Historically, they have not been used extensively in #healthcare. However, that could be changing. As more nurses leave the bedside, state and local governments and other agencies are looking for ways to alleviate #turnover. According to an article by Healthcare Workforce Report, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development and Madison College are helping #nursing students with tuition and fees. In return, the students work as CNAs while they take prerequisite #courswork and then as student nurses for two years while #training as nurses. On the surface, this sounds like a great program. However, for those of us who have gone to school and worked at the same time - this is a tough schedule. And we're not talking about just any job. These nursing students are working as #certifiednursingassistants which is one of the most physical, challenging, and #shortstaffed jobs out there. I'm on the fence! It could be a great #solution if administered and operationalized with the employee in mind. However, I know that this is often not the case in healthcare.
Yes! Let's burn them out before they graduate! Diploma grads basically did this and were well prepared. However, those were the days when Nuns ran the hospitals, nurses were appreciated for their experience, and the Nuns actually worked along side of us! Then the suits came and locked themselves up on mahogany row looking at $$$ not patient care.
MSN, RN
10moMy CNA program is an apprenticeship program. My students work as much as they would like but usually only 2 days a week. They can then work full time as NARs after the class and then as CNAs once they pass their exams. They have great ratios of 8 residents. The hard thing for us is that we cannot compete with hospital or agency pay as we are a non profit. We need higher reimbursement for us to reduce our vacancies.