The Center for American Progress has published a new report entitled How To Ease The Nursing Shortage In America.  The report underscores the important role that community colleges and the associate degree pathway plan in ensuring a robust, diverse nursing workforce.  The report addresses “three main constraints that prevent higher education institutions from graduating more nurses: a shortage of nurse educators, a lack of clinical placements for student nurses, and inadequate campus facilities and equipment.”

The conclusion issues three policy recommendations with additional specific exemplars provided.

Policy Recommendations

1. Expand the capacity of educational institutions to enroll and graduate nurses while improving access and outcomes for student nurses of color and overall population health
2. Federal and state actors should introduce new proposals to expand clinical placement capacity and fund pathways from ADN programs to BSN programs
3. Create standing bodies to document and advise on issues of recruitment, training, and retention

Read the full report here.