Education Mondays: Ivy Tech helps meet critical need for skilled nurses
There is currently a significant shortage of nurses which is giving them a chance to write their own tickets these days.
At Ivy Tech Community College, the nursing and practical nursing programs are learning valuable skills and getting great experiences in clinical settings, caring for real patients in a variety of clinical settings, including lab simulations.
The growing use of simulations in nursing schools allows students to assume roles that are typically unavailable in a clinical setting, allowing students to make critical choices and see the results of those decisions.
Dr. Myra Hart, assistant professor of Nursing and department chair, joined us Monday “Life.Style.Live!” to share more about the benefits of the program.
The Ivy Tech Nursing Program also uses a variety of teaching methods and learning strategies in the classroom, in clinical settings, and online to appeal to every learning style.
Ivy Tech’s Nursing Program Expansion Plan Aims to Help Alleviate Persistent Staffing Shortages:
With the persistent problems that US healthcare workers face, including staffing shortages, it is vital for communities and higher education to address this important issue. In close partnership with IU Health, Ivy Tech has received a generous grant and has been developing a plan to expand its nursing program and increase nursing student enrollment. This includes investments in equipment, supplies, and faculty, as well as tools to better support nursing students in their academic success. Their plan is to grow 100 seats by Spring 2025, and as of Fall 2022, they have grown by 40 seats so almost halfway there. The expansion is a significant step toward expanding healthcare delivery to Hoosiers for generations to come.
Diversity Focus in Nursing:
To meet the needs of our Indianapolis community’s increasingly diverse population, Ivy Tech is dedicated to ensuring that our nursing students, and therefore the nursing community reflects changing patient demographics. This involves recruiting and nurturing a diverse nursing workforce.
Diversity gives nurses additional opportunities to learn about more effective approaches to various patient populations from their colleagues. This promotes the development of more culturally competent practices and helps nurses share information with one another that allows them to adjust approaches to care.
A key tool to reducing health disparities involves diversity in nursing. Patients who see themselves represented in the nursing staff are likely to be more transparent, more confident in their treatment, and more willing to engage in recommended plans of care. This all helps improve patient outcomes.
Points of Pride:
· Ivy Tech currently offers nursing programs at 18 of its 19 campuses, with a program planned to launch at the remaining campus by early 2023.
· Ivy Tech currently graduates more than 1,300 associate-degree nursing students every year, more than any other institution in Indiana and the largest in the nation.
· Additionally, more than 90 percent of Ivy Tech nursing graduates stay in Indiana.
To learn more, click here.
THIS SEGMENT IS SPONSORED BY IVY TECH COMMUNITY COLLEGE.