SIU addresses nursing shortage with multiple paths to the profession
By Christi Mathis
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s registered nursing program launched just a couple of years ago, but it already is having a big impact. It’s all part of SIU’s plan to address the nursing shortage by training prepared and experienced health care workers.
The first accelerated nursing program students were already engaged in potentially life-saving health and wellness activities before they graduated in August, and as the first group of traditional nursing students enter their final year, they are also making a difference.
Some students, like Kira Marks, chose the accelerated BSN program to start a second career, one of the more unusual stories from the class. Before she graduated, Marks secured an ICU position at SIH Memorial Hospital of Carbondale following licensure and she likewise did her clinical training at the SIH facility. She appreciates the intense nature of her internship and the fact that she got the hands-on experiences she has.
Marks earned a degree in automotive technology at SIU in 2009 and worked in the industry for several years, but as time went on, began exploring options for a career change that would give her a secure career where she could stay in Southern Illinois. She had worked as a phlebotomist for SIH in the past and liked the company, and as she explored her options, discovered the new accelerated BSN program and it was just what she was looking for.
“I still work with my hands, fix things and make them work right,” Marks said with a laugh. And indeed, she’s very excited that she will be helping people and having a real impact.
The need for registered nurses is great, officials said. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projected a job growth rate of 9% in the decade ending 2030, but officials note that this projection was made prior to the pandemic and the mass exodus of nurses that resulted. A recent report from McKinsey and Company said that the United States may see a shortage of 200,000 to 450,000 registered nurses by 2025.
“The nursing shortage is significant,” said Jennifer Harre, Southern Illinois Healthcare (SIH) chief nursing officer. “It’s been very critical to our organization because we’ve had to backfill a large number of vacancies with higher dollar contracted employees, and that’s just not sustainable. Even then we have had to close beds at times because we don’t have the staff to cover all of the beds, and that means patients have go outside the region for care. We don’t want them to have to do that.”
Marks, along with Maggie Kelley, Gavin Wells and Alexis Hoagland are among the first graduates of SIU’s new Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. On top of classroom instruction and clinicals, they spent their final months of study working on a couple of special projects to benefit their fellow SIU students as well as community members.
They conducted a sun safety promotion at Carbondale Park District’s Super Splash Park in July. The nursing students hosted an educational display table offering information, handouts and sunscreen samples to community members. They chatted with people, encouraging them to wear sunscreen, shared information about the harm the sun can cause to skin and told how to recognize the signs of cellular changes and damage on all types of skin.
“It’s really rewarding that we get to have that impact on our local community, especially people who aren’t seeking help or coming into a medical facility for care,” Kelley said.
Kelley, of Vienna, Illinois, said oftentimes there is a misconception that people of color don’t have to worry about sun damage when in fact, that’s not true. What often happens is that darker skin tones sometimes mask the signs, making damage more difficult to detect until it is more advanced. That’s one of the reasons they wanted to make sure people know, because that knowledge can save lives, they say.
After working six years as a lifeguard, Wells has seen what the sun can do, and he and his fellow nurses-in-training were quick to choose sun safety as their class project for the community health course taught by Debra Penrod, assistant professor of nursing.
There were four student groups, and each was asked to develop its own community health project. The project phases include finding a need, developing a project, completing a program and evaluating its success. Penrod said the program could take place on campus or in an external setting such as a daycare, nursing home or anywhere in the region.
Other nursing group projects focused on educating SIU students about the health hazards of binge drinking and what to do if someone loses consciousness and educating their peers about sexual health. Penrod said she’s excited to see her students’ enthusiasm and initiative as well as the potential impact. Each group has also worked with the Student Health Center on a project.
Working with campus partners to serve students
Wellness and Health Promotion Services, a service of SIU’s Student Health Services, collaborates with campus and community partners to create a healthy and inclusive campus culture by providing resources and programming to equip students with the skills and information they need to make effective choices for their health and well-being, according to Rachelle Ridgeway, interim director of Wellness and Health Promotion Services and associate director of Counseling and Psychological Services. Penrod’s students are helping staff do that even more effectively in 2022 and beyond, Ridgeway said.
Each spring, SIU students are asked to evaluate the student health services provided and give input on what services and information they want and need. That’s where Penrod’s BSN students came in.
Ridgeway said she is excited to be collaborating with students from SIU’s nursing program as they have applied best health practices to help evaluate those survey responses and then plan preventative care presentations, workshops and social media posts that are based on student need assessments and program outcome measures. She said the nursing students not only bring to the project planning professional expertise as nurse candidates but also personal experience as Saluki peers.
“I think the students receiving the information will appreciate receiving it from their peers and experts in the field,” Ridgeway said. “We provide topic-specific presentations and workshops, host informational campus events and partner with campus and community entities to provide prevention-based trainings on a variety of topics that impact student success, including physical, nutritional and sexual health; alcohol and other drug harm reduction; violence and suicide prevention; stress management; resilience and coping skills and health equity, even healthy eating. And all of our services are free to SIU students, even if they don’t have insurance.”
Hoagland, Marks, Kelley and Wells met at the Student Health Center to create detailed plans for student workshops, PowerPoint presentations and brainstorming ways to reach fellow students via social media, signage or other methods with valuable health-related information.
“These are things we get to write about and share our experiences about,” said Hoagland, of Edwards, Illinois. “We can help them discover resources we didn’t know were available to us. There are a lot of free resources on this campus and in the community, and we’re nursing students and we didn’t even know about them. That’s one of the things we’re trying to do with the things we’re creating.”
Marks, of Carbondale, Illinois, noted that many students don’t realize they can get treated or obtain X-rays or lab services for just $10 at the Student Health Center.
Going full circle
The community projects, both on- and off-campus are valuable in more ways than one, according to Penrod. They are a great way to give back to the campus and the community at large, a practical way to capsulize what the nursing students have learned, and a wonderful resume-booster, she said.
“This is the culmination of everything they’ve learned in nursing,” she said. “They study, they comprehend, they train, they evaluate, then they create a plan and help people, all the while using best medical practices. Then, they do it for real. It is the whole learning continuum.”
Three degree pathways, rigorous accelerated program
SIU began its Bachelor of Science in Nursing program in 2020 and the university offers three degree completion tracks: the traditional four-year bachelor’s program, the accelerated BSN program, and the hybrid RN to BSN degree-completion program. The traditional BSN program will graduate its first class in May 2023. When in full operation, officials anticipate SIU’s nursing program will provide training for about 300 students over a four-year period.
The accelerated BSN program launched in the fall of 2021. The accelerated program is concentrated and rigorous, essentially covering the advanced skills typically taught over a three-year period in just a year, officials said. During summer 2022, the first 16-member SIU accelerated BSN class completed what would typically be the “senior” year of their curriculum, actually their third semester, before graduating in August.
SIU’s nursing program earned accreditation from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), the accrediting arm of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) in May, and it’s the first nursing program in the state to incorporate training from Mid-America Transplant into its curriculum, according to Kelli Whittington, assistant professor and nursing program director in the School of Health Sciences.
Clinical experience that matters
A requirement for their community health course is clinical experience, and Penrod said her students obtained that experience this summer in various ways.
Moving forward, plans call for continuing to incorporate community health and SIU Student Health Services projects into the curriculum for both the accelerated and traditional nursing student programs, Penrod and Ridgeway said.
For instance, they said in spring 2023, plans call for the traditional nursing students to be involved with conducting the Student Health Services programming assessments, which the accelerated BSN students can then help develop programming for again next summer. And throughout the year, as it fits within the schedules of the various nursing programs, the nurses-in-training will begin assisting Ridgeway and Wellness and Health Promotion Services with a variety of workshops, events and other endeavors. Projects range from helping to train residential advisers about student health and wellness, promoting suicide prevention and fostering healthy relationships.
Making it count
Whittington said the nursing students have several locations to choose from in which to serve their clinicals, from Carbondale to the Metro East and Springfield. While taking classes at SIU, the students have accumulated a lot of other practical experience as well, and it’s already paying off.
Wells and John Young assisted staff from SIH in providing free sports physicals at Carbondale High School in early June. Wells and other students assisted with pediatric physicals at the Murphysboro school district earlier this year as well.
A Poplar Bluff, Missouri, native, Wells had a biology degree from another university but was excited to hear he could complete his nursing degree in just a year at SIU, a university he said had a great reputation. He believes the curriculum and hands-on training have prepared him well for his plan in the fast-paced world of a registered nurse working in the ICU or emergency room.
The mother of a five-year-old, Kelley, wants to work in a pediatric ICU, ideally at Children’s Hospital in St. Louis. Kelley said she thinks it’s important to treat parents and children the way she would like to see her child and herself treated if they were dealing with a health care situation. Originally a social worker, Kelley has always had a heart for helping people, but after living abroad in Italy for several years she returned to the United States and decided to switch to a career where her work on behalf of her patients was more quickly noticeable and tangible, and she’s happy that she can complete her degree in just a year at SIU.
Hoagland was a biology/chemistry major, originally planning to go into medicine, but became concerned that various factors would steer her away from her preferred areas of specialty. As she thought about it, she realized that her real love is the ICU and she chose a career in nursing and SIU’s accelerated BSN program. And it’s already paying off, she’s proud to say. She was hired at Memorial Hospital in Carbondale, pending passing her RN board examinations to earn her license. She’ll be working in the cardiovascular intensive care unit.
“It’s pretty exciting,” she said. “I did my clinicals there, and they trained me in that unit so I’ll be fully prepared.”
SIH and SIU have an ongoing partnership to address health care needs throughout the region, as SIH pledged $1 million to help SIU launch the BSN program and this summer, SIH announced a new scholarship program for SIU’s accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. Students who meet the criteria can receive full scholarships, earn their degree in a year, and then pledge to work at an SIH facility for a period of time commensurate with the amount of funding received.