A combination
of an aging RN workforce, the loss of experienced
nurses to other professions, the decreasing interest
in nursing by young men and women and inability
of nursing programs to keep up with demand because
of a shortage of masters prepared nursing faculty
to teach them will lead to a perfect storm.
AsburyPark Press Article, May 8, 2006
The project will reduce the nursing shortage by increasing the supply of
registered nurses through an innovative program that
allows current health care employees to continue working
while attending an RN program located at their work
site.
• Develop online components to the didactic portions of the entire nursing curriculum that would allow a significant portion of the course content to be taught in a web-assisted or blended manner;
• Organize all classroom, laboratory and clinical face-to-face learning experiences in such a way that they will be delivered in a single day of the week;
• Facilitate the participation of all major hospitals in Ocean County and major portions of Monmouth County (Meridian and St. Barnabas Health Care System) in this program; assist these institutions to market the program to their motivated current health care employees.
• Establish a Northern (Medical Center of Ocean County) and a Southern (Southern Ocean County Hospital) training facility within existing hospitals that will serve as learning centers where didactic sessions, on-site nursing laboratories and clinical instruction occur under one roof. Each center will be capable of adding 30 additional RNs per year when the program is fully implemented. This has been expanded to include Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune and St. Barnabas Community Medical Center in Toms River for the Spring of 2007.
• Be consistent with the existing nursing program at Ocean County College in terms of performance. The curriculum for the One Day per Week (ODPW) Nursing Program will be identical to the traditional face-to-face program. The initial results of the ATI assessment driven review show outstanding performance of the ODPW nursing students.
• Recruit students who are currently employed in healthcare such as Licensed Practical Nurses, Nursing Assistants, Emergency Medical Technicians, and the like at participating institutions. Particular attention will be directed toward students who are considered "nontraditional" such as single parents who are forced to work in order to go to school or who are members of communities that have been historically under-represented in the nursing profession.
Apply to the One Day per Week Program >>
ODPW Program
Results: An Outstanding Success >>
The One Day per Week Nursing Program was partially funded by a grant from the New Jersey Health Initiatives program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
