Demand growing for advanced nursing knowledge

Nurses nowadays are putting down the stethoscopes and picking up a full load of courses.

With millions of new customers with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, many medical practitioners may not have trouble job hunting. However, they may find that job-seekers with advanced educational degrees almost always qualify for positions more than those without one, especially in the nursing field. Despite the burgeoning demand for nurses, who can often fill the role of primary care physicians, it”™s all about the credentials, said Meredith Wallace Kazer, dean and professor of Fairfield University”™s nursing school.

“To meet the demands of the increasing number of Americans seeking health care in the primary health care sector, nurse practitioners can fill that role,” Kazer said. “Nowadays, you need that advanced degree in order to become credentialed as a nurse practitioner. We have 20 percent of our undergraduate students come back for advanced degrees.”

Meredith Wallace Kazer, dean of the Fairfield University nursing school.

The nursing school at Fairfield University has changed over the years. As advanced degrees in nursing become a must-have to land a job as a primary care physician, the school is ramping up and improving the quality of its master”™s and doctorate nursing degree programs for registered nurses to ensure they graduate well-trained and adaptable to the ever-changing health care environment, Kazer said.

In particular, Fairfield University opened its doctorate in nursing program just four years ago. Enrollment in the nursing school has been rising every year, partly due to the advanced degrees it now offers, Kazer said. What the doctorate in nursing program offers that isn”™t always taught in the undergraduate-nursing courses is training in leadership, evaluating patient outcomes and finding innovative solutions for evidence-based practices.

One effort the school has made to up with the changing health care landscape is in informatics and electronic medical records. The biggest change the nursing program experienced is adding simulation labs, Kazer said. The labs serve as a mock hospital environment, and the students collaborate with teams in the clinical labs.

“We didn”™t do that as much before, but now it”™s integrated into every single course, so students have a good understanding of how the information they use in the textbook is actualized for a patient,” Kazer said. “We integrate relevant health conditions to our curriculum. Lately, it”™s been tailoring lab scenarios to weather events that result in power outages and procedures that prepare them to handle patients during catastrophic events.”

The next step to improving the nursing program is designing a new building that will “bring us forward to the next century,” Kazer said. It will have simulation labs and classrooms, with students working in professional environments. “It”™s critical as we educate the next era of health care providers,” she said.

The nursing school has developed a relationship with more than 50 health care organizations and businesses in Fairfield County. Professors often invite health care professionals to speak at school events. The professors constantly improve their curriculum to stay relevant, Kazer said.

“We have our entire faculty maintain currency in their practice area,” Kazer said. “We keep a pulse on health care by attending national meetings. Our faculty and staff revise our courses, policies and procedures, and clinical experiences all the time. Health care is changing daily and we have to prepare our students for the best educational experience.”