A new program is looking to help help increase nurse staffs at hospitals in New York.
Upstate Medical University is teaming up with Cayuga Community College to create new accelerated joint nursing degree programs.
One is for those who already have earned a bachelor’s degree and want to transition into nursing. The other is a three-year dual degree program in which students can earn an associate’s degree at Cayuga, pass the nursing exam and then enroll at Upstate to finish a bachelor’s degree in nursing.
“It creates a quicker pipeline to nurses for our university hospitals downtown and our community hospital, where we suffer from needing still many agency nurses rather than direct hires to our facility,” said Tammy Austin-Ketch, dean of the College of Nursing at Upstate Medical University.
The program aims to get students take into the workforce across the region at a faster pace.
The state Department of Labor projects more than 17,000 annual openings for registered nurses between 2022 and 2032. The state is producing roughly 10,000 new nurses per year — a gap that experts warn will widen if structural problems go unaddressed.