How to solve Canada’s nursing shortage
Nurses are in high demand all over the world, and no country seems to have anywhere near the number of trained professionals to meet the needs brought on by COVID, and larger, systemic issues that preceded COVID.
As Patty Winsa reported, Canada isn’t training and retaining enough nurses, either. Between colleges and universities, there aren’t enough classroom seats available for new learners. And, once they’re trained, getting those nurses to serve in rural and remote communities is another challenge.
Developing more distance nursing degrees with online courses and local clinical placements is one way to meet the educational requirements set out by nursing associations, keep nursing students in rural communities to learn practical skills, and strengthen health care.
There are four benefits to this approach:
First, by offering quality distance learning and convenient clinical placements, online students can practice, network and develop their skills in their own communities. Meanwhile, local health care systems gain an active and engaged provider who is deeply invested in caring for their community, and the college or university gets to expand its alumni footprint nationally.
Second, online degrees help colleges or universities attract more students, generating much-needed revenue without adding classroom costs. Expanding programs also increases brand and program recognition nationally and creates a wider, more diverse alumni network.
Third, online programs accelerate the deployment of new nurses beyond what’s already being done. Canada already has second-level entry compressed programs in universities. If these accelerated programs can create a distance offering, they can deploy new nurses even faster than a four-year degree.
And fourth, expanding the reach of educational opportunities and clinical placements improves the quality of health care in underserved, rural and urban areas. New techniques and methodologies can be learned in an online classroom setting, then offered to the community through a clinical experience.
Some institutions have found that maintaining the quality of a program online can be challenging. That’s why many institutions in the U.S. and Canada are working with online program management (OPM) providers.
OPM providers help co-create and market high-quality learning experiences and establish robust clinical networks and placement opportunities for online programs like nursing.
The bottom line is that Canada desperately needs nurses. It doesn’t matter if those nurses are trained in-person, at a distance or both — as long as they can skilfully serve patients in their communities. At the same time, the success of institutions is not being judged by how they deliver programs, but by their ability to educate and graduate skilled nurses.
The future of nursing requires students and institutions to embrace the benefits of online education with clinical placements — a hybrid program option.
This will lead to more open and accessible education, and better health care for everyone. OPMs can help colleges and universities expand their clinical footprints and increase accessibility in this time of urgent demand and need.