Corridor campuses expand efforts to churn out nurses

IOWA CITY — The need for nurses is so deep that the University of Iowa — in seeking a $12 million boost in state appropriations for next year — vowed to commit a majority of that new money, if granted, to growing the nursing workforce.

“We know that we need more nurses,” UI President Barbara Wilson on Thursday told the Iowa City Noon Rotary. “Our College of Nursing is a top-rated college. But it's not as big as it needs to be.”

Concerted efforts to grow the UI College of Nursing, which boasts a bachelor of science in nursing program tied for No. 9 nationally in the 2022-23 U.S. News & World Report rankings, has resulted in an 11 percent enrollment bump over five years to 160 students today.

⧉ Related article: Costly but critical: Nurses travel the nation to blunt staffing shortage

“This increase has fully tapped the existing capacity of the college — both in terms of needed space and equipment for clinical training and the instructors needed for educating new students,” according to the UI request to the Iowa Legislature, which committed $7 million of the $12 million ask to nurse-related training efforts. “Increasing faculty ranks and renovating existing infrastructure are the next steps to develop more nurses for Iowa.”

Given the torrent of nurse departures and ever-swelling nurse demand regionally and nationally — as Americans live longer and nurses are embedded into new settings beyond hospitals, like grocery stores and workplaces — the UI is not alone in plotting innovative ways to churn out recruits.

Colleges, universities and trade schools are ramping up nurse-related partnerships, scholarships, internships and mentorships.

Among the budding nurse education collaborations locally is one Kirkwood Community College and the UI finalized in September — letting Kirkwood nursing graduates transfer seamlessly to the UI College of Nursing to complete their bachelor’s in nursing.

Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids this year unveiled a collaboration with nearby Mount Mercy University to help students complete nursing degrees with minimal debt and job experience.

“Mercy has since entered into similar partnerships with nursing programs at Coe College and Kirkwood Community College and others are in development,” according to Mercy spokeswoman Karen VanderSanden.

Coe this month debuted the $2.8 million David and Janice McInally Center for Health & Society adjacent Cedar Rapids’ 55-square-block MedQuarter, aimed at connecting students in health-related fields — like nursing students — with the district’s two major hospitals.

As part of Coe’s debt-reducing programs with Mercy and UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Hospital, Coe nursing students can get financial aid and part-time work at Mercy while finishing school. Through Coe’s St. Luke’s collaboration, students can have tuition and fees covered for their final two terms — potentially qualifying for a sign-on bonus if they join select inpatient nursing units.

The University of Northern Iowa has a “unique Nursing 3+1 biology program” that works with Allen College in Waterloo to get students two degrees in four years. Students in that program study biology for three years at UNI before transferring to Allen College to complete an accelerated bachelor of science in nursing program.

In the end, graduates will leave with a UNI biology degree and Allen College with a BSN.

And the UI also recently announced a “Nursing: entry into practice” master’s degree — characterized as a full-time accelerated “direct-entry” program preparing non-nurse graduates of all academic backgrounds to become practicing nurses in 15 months.

The first cohort of that program starts in the spring.

“When fully implemented, the college will be able to increase its capacity with the intention to graduate 48 additional nurses per year,” according to Board of Regents documents, characterizing that as a 30-percent boost in the number of nurses UI will pour into the workforce annually.

But upping enrollment from 160 to more than 200 a year will require more resources — including 10 new faculty, UI officials report.

“Nursing faculty who are innovative and committed to educating the next generation of nurses are in high demand across the Midwest and beyond,” UI officials said in asking the state for more money. “The requested additional funding from the state will ensure that we can attract 10 exceptional new faculty from across the country, pay them a competitive salary, and provide support for curriculum development, professional development, and clinical research opportunities.”

The support includes renovating a15-year-old “Nursing Clinical Education Center” — a joint venture between UI Health Care’s Department of Nursing Services and Patient Care and the UI College of Nursing. The 20,000-square-foot center includes an 11-room clinical simulation lab for practicing “sophisticated and complex” specialty and clinical situations.

While the lab was state-of-the-art when it debuted in 2007, today it needs new technology and more space, the UI says.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com