Tuesday, August 6, 2002

Bush Signs Law to Expand Access to Nursing Education By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET President Bush signed a bill last week to ease the nation's growing shortage of nurses by making a nursing education more accessible and attractive. While nursing-education advocates generally praised the new law, lobbyists representing two-year colleges say it overlooks associate-degree nursing programs. The Nurse Reinvestment Act (HR 3487), a series of amendments to the Public Health Service Act, allows Congress to authorize money for several new programs geared toward increasing nursing-school enrollments, including loan-repayment plans to increase the number of nursing-school faculty members, and need-based scholarships for nursing students. The scholarships will be administered through the National Nurse Service Corps, a new program to be directed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Students who receive the scholarships must agree to work for at least two years at a "health care facility with a critical shortage of nurses," according to the law. The law also mandates several studies by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, to determine regional variations in the nursing shortage, differences in the hiring of nurses by for-profit and nonprofit institutions, and the effect of the law's new programs on the number of applications to nursing schools. The law also authorizes the creation of grants for specific educational programs, in order to expand "the enrollment in baccalaureate nursing programs." Associate-degree programs, however, were not explicitly mentioned in that section of the law. David S. Baime, vice president for government relations at the American Association of Community Colleges, called the omission a "fundamental flaw" in the legislation. "The associate-degree graduates are a fundamental component of the nursing pipeline and should have been included in that segment of the bill," he said. But Kathleen Ann Long, the president of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, said the law's provisions deal with the preparation of nurses at all levels. "It's broad enough that I believe everyone will benefit," she said. Both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate passed versions of the bill late last year, but it remained stalled for many months as lobbyists and legislators worked out the details, leaving many nursing educators concerned that the final bill might not pass before the end of the legislative session. But after months of conference-committee negotiations, the House and Senate passed the measure by voice vote on July 23, and President Bush signed it into law on August 1. Although the Senate version of the bill had listed specific dollar amounts for the new programs, the version that became law last week does not directly provide money for these new measures, and many nursing-school officials worry that, in a tight economy, they won't be able to secure the funds they need. "Just because it's signed doesn't mean it will be funded," said Sharon L. Bernier, director of the nursing program at Montgomery College and president-elect of the National Organization for Associate Degree Nursing. Ms. Long said that lobbying for adequate appropriations from Congress would be a top priority for the organization. "The Nurse Reinvestment Act provides us with a great opportunity to improve patient care," she said. "We need to make that opportunity a reality by securing the needed funding." Background article from The Chronicle: Nurses Needed, Stat.: Shortage Leads Colleges to Expand Programs and Recruitment (8/2/2002) Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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