Sacred Heart tackles nursing shortage - Westfair Communications

Sacred Heart University is launching a doctoral program in nursing next fall. Program graduates could in turn take teaching jobs to help close a chronic shortage of nursing professionals in Connecticut.

Currently, the University of Connecticut is the only school in Connecticut with a Ph.D. program in nursing. Sacred Heart University has only one other doctoral program currently: a doctor of physical therapy program.

Sacred Heart is structuring the program as a three-year, part-time program to attract working professionals. As is the case in other states, Connecticut is caught in a Catch 22: with a shortage of nurses pushing wages up for professionals, few are taking the lower pay they would receive teaching in colleges and universities, which in turn limits the number of students and so keeps the labor pipeline tight in future years.

Sacred Heart is tailoring its program to two career tracks: one for those interested in either teaching nursing or management, and one for those who want to receive advanced clinical instruction.

The doctor of nursing practice degree was first proposed by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing in 2004; by 2015, AACN said all new advanced-practice nurses must graduate with the degree.

“(This is) an indication of the reputation we have earned for nursing education in the state,” said Dr. Patricia Walker, dean of Sacred Heart”™s College of Education and Health Professions, in a prepared statement. “I’m very proud of this latest achievement of our nursing faculty and very pleased that the university is serving society by educating highly skilled nurses for clinical and academic settings.”