It's a Matter of Supply and Demand...
In July, 2006, The Nursing Institute sponsored a research project that led to the creation of a foundational publication, "Acute Care Registered Nurse Retention and Satisfaction Study", Phase I Final Report 7-1-06. The work focused on the west central Ohio counties of Auglaize, Butler, Champaign, Clark, Clinton, Darke, Fayette, Grenne, Highland, Logan, Mercer, Miami, Montgomery, Preble, Shelby, and Warren.
Nursing Workforce Shortage
Between 2005 and 2020 the supply and demand models predicted that the current shortage of full time registered nurses in West Central Ohio would dramatically increase. Over the next 15 years, the demand would increase at an average annual rate of approximately 1.3 percent. By 2020, primarily due to an increase in the demand for registered nurses, the shortage was predicted to more than double. At the same time, the supply of full time registered nurses would decrease at an average annual rate of 0.23 percent due to nurses retiring or leaving the field of nursing altogether.
In addition to the nursing workforce shortage, a shortage of full time faculty to teach nurses also exists. This condition was documented in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing study, "Enrollment and Graduations in Baccalaureate and
Graduate Programs in Nursing". Qualified nurse applicants are being turned away
from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs due to an insufficient number of faculty, clinical sites, classroom space, clinical preceptors, and budget constraints. Almost three quarters
(71.4%) of the nursing schools responding to the 2007 survey pointed to faculty
shortages as a reason for not accepting all qualified applicants into entry level
baccalaureate
programs.
The Nursing Institute has named this condition
"The Perfect Storm"
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One Solution
It sounds easy - just train more nurses, but "Who will train them?" The Nursing Institute asked. Educational institutions are not able to "ramp up" enough to meet the need without sacrificing educational quality - a risk no one will take when it comes to educating nurses when mistakes can cause loss of human life.
At The Nursing Institute, we believe a futuristic approach to testing models and implementing new programs for the nursing students, nursing workforce, and faculty is essential to effectively handle this critical need. Rather than hiring new faculty, we propose the use of our Remote Presence Robot (RP-7, or Morgan, as he is affectionately known to us) to extend current faculty.
Morgan in the Classroom -
The instructor, through Morgan, "enters" the classroom and is able to instruct the students without being physically present. Instead, the instructor, using a laptop and a wireless internet connection can "beam in" to the student classroom
In a study conducted at Wright State University, The Nursing Institute collected data to evaluate the faculty's acceptance of the remote robot as a teaching method, and nursing students' acceptance of receiving clinical instruction via a remote presence robot.
Preliminary study demonstrated that both participants, faculty and students, gave high acceptance rating for the use of remote presence robot as a faculty extender technology for teaching nursing courses.
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Regional Focus
The Nursing Institute serves a community of nurses and other key leaders in the 22-county-wide service region to support and facilitate quality healthcare for all citizens in the Nursing Institute Service Area
NI provides and facilitates leadership and advocacy support to ensure that health care organizations have an adequate supply of highly skilled RNs, schools have a continuous flow of culturally diverse students, and citizens have access to quality healthcare.
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