One of the biggest advantages of qualifying in nursing is that it provides the ability to seek out job opportunities anywhere on the planet. However, in terms of the healthcare talent pool in the US, there hasn’t always been the immediate chance to start climbing the ladder upon graduation.
There are serious shortfalls in the number of medical professionals available to healthcare providers. This is especially true within some rural areas, challenged communities and smaller-scale facilities. This issue is unlikely to resolve itself, if opportunities for nurses to move up the career ladder are stifled. In fact, it could cause an even more serious skills gap in just about every state, area and type of healthcare provider.
Alongside this, if the number of healthcare professionals available for the top jobs is restricted, those who do make it through the different levels may gravitate to bigger employers, with deep pockets and an attractive location. Clearly, to stop the brain drain, there needs to be a larger talent pool, and more incentive for nurses to stay in their local area when they qualify.
One of the most exciting solutions to this problem in recent times has been the increased availability of high caliber online nursing courses. These enable nurses to move up the career ladder in a more versatile and affordable way, without changing their location. They also offer important benefits to employers who are seeking this type of applicant.
Let’s look more closely at how remote learning is helping to solve the healthcare skills shortage and medical brain drain.
Advancement was an ‘impossible dream’ for many
At the core of the issue is the need to make it possible for more people to apply for and complete training courses that meet the current and future requirements of healthcare providers in the US.
There is no doubt that healthcare in this country is facing unprecedented pressures, due to rapid advances in medical science, technology and the average age of patients. The need to recruit professionals with advanced skills has never been more urgent.
At one time, opportunities to train as professional nurses — especially on courses leading to advanced qualifications in nursing — were limited by geography and finances. Not only did nurses have to find a learning center they could relocate to or access from home, they also had to meet the additional costs involved. That meant alongside the fees for nursing degrees, nurses also had to budget for a potential change of address, or travel to and from their training provider.
As if that was not enough of a hurdle for anyone considering advancing their nursing career, there was a substantial indirect ‘cost’ factor too. Many nursing programs were a huge commitment, and travelling to lectures, seminars and tutor meetings chiseled away at the time available for other responsibilities, including paid employment.
Therefore, in the past, committing to a nursing qualification program could interfere with one’s ability to continue to earn money and gain career experience. It could also result in significant residual costs such as additional childcare for nurses pursuing leadership and research qualifications.
It is easy to see why signing up for advanced nurse training opportunities must have seemed an ‘impossible dream’ to many worthwhile candidates. They would have needed a considerable amount of practical and financial support to climb their career ladder, and this was unfeasible for many nurses.
How remote learning transformed nurse training
Contrast the limits and obstacles outlined above, with the way in which online courses have opened up a whole new world of possibilities.
Nurses can now advance their careers from the comfort of their own home, with all the cost efficiency and flexibility that brings. That even includes the opportunity to work towards top jobs in nursing, by signing up for highly accessible, versatile, advanced-level qualifications online.
For example, nurses can now do PhD in nursing online programs at Wilkes University. There, the progression to graduation as a Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing can be achieved on a part-time basis, over three years of learning. This makes it ideal for anyone who wants to continue to work as a nurse, while they gain the skills, knowledge and experience to apply for leadership roles and the highest levels of scientific inquiry.
As one would expect, to complete a PhD in nursing program online still requires that students meet some stringent criteria. That includes already having a Master of Science in Nursing, demonstrable professional goals and a viable research topic for a PhD degree.
However, online nursing programs deliver many of the fundamental steps to get there, including opportunities to complete an accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Master of Science of Nursing. Students can even select a particular aspect of nursing for their remote learning, such as qualification as a family nurse practitioner.
What this adds up to, is a superb road map of career milestones, for ambitious individuals who want to get to the top of the nursing profession. It is also a route that minimizes disruption to their existing work-life balance.
Online courses also spread the talent pool nationwide
There is another facet to this link between online nursing qualifications and a growing talent pool of skilled medical professionals.
At one time, students would need to move nearer to their learning providers, or join large-scale healthcare providers, to support their ability to climb the nursing career ladder. This naturally meant that rural areas of the US were particularly prone to the effects of the medical ‘brain drain’.
Also, smaller healthcare facilities may well have struggled to hold on to or attract nursing staff, as their ability to support personal and professional development may have seemed less of a reality.
Now every employer — including those in rural areas — can offer local nurses the support they need to complete advanced level qualifications. This can also be achieved without the healthcare provider having to factor in lengthy periods of absence or other negative impacts when staff embark on supported training programs.
Options to tailor training to specialist niches and abilities
This blossoming in the ways healthcare providers can advance the skills of ‘homegrown employees’ also enables them to add specialist clinical placements into the mix.
An illustration would be one of the growing numbers of treatment providers who specialize in patient-focused healthcare. They could sponsor, or otherwise support, someone to do a PhD in nursing — that includes advanced clinical experience in the latest holistic nursing methods and practices.
Clearly, the individual nurse embarking on advanced nursing qualifications can also find an online training program that meets their individual aspirations and interests, as well as the practical needs of their employer.
There is also the possibility of online courses for nurses matching the learning abilities of students more adroitly than in-person programs. Remote education provides more opportunities for students to learn at their own pace, in an environment that they find conducive. Students can also re-read, rehearse and replay aspects of their course as many times as they need, if the training content is online.
Do online programs limit interaction and experience?
One of the few things that may make nurses hesitate to sign up for online qualification courses, is a mistaken belief that this would limit their clinical experiences. They could also be concerned that it reduces their chances to engage with other students and stimulate healthcare contacts.
Of course, the best nursing program providers have mandated to make sure that is not the case. Even nursing programs that are 100% online blend this with in-personal clinical placements. The leading providers also ensure that a clinical placement advisor and mentor help students to optimize their practical experiences within degree programs.
Also, modern communications technology means none of the interaction with other students needs to be sacrificed. Instead, candidates can chat online, form study groups and share experiences, potentially in a more fluid and responsive way than at physical seats of learning.
Online programs and nursing diversity
Having the option to use remote learning to advance a career in nursing is just one of the ways this healthcare profession has sought to become more inclusive in recent times. This is, of course, an ethical priority. However, a more equitable pathway to top nursing jobs also serves to widen the talent pool and plug the healthcare brain drain.
Creating a more diverse workforce in healthcare has another crucial benefit. According to the American Nurses Association there is a pressing need to make nursing a more equitable and welcoming profession for individuals of all races, beliefs and backgrounds. This involves stamping out racism in the workplace, but also making the routes into this profession more achievable for a more diverse range of applicants.
This then has a crucial knock-on effect, not just in terms of the numbers of applicants for nursing posts, but also their ability to fulfil jobs within ethnically diverse or low-income communities.
Research has proven that “individuals from minority groups in the United States have inferior health, experience added problems accessing care, have an increased likelihood of being uninsured and even when insured will more often receive lower quality healthcare than non-minorities.” Disparities in access to screening and testing services for all ages are especially vivid.
If access to nursing qualifications becomes wider — such as by offering online qualification programs — this can also help tackle these issues.
The same report quoted above said: “Racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to return to and serve their underrepresented communities, bridge the cultural and linguistic gaps in patient education, and provide a broad and different cultural prospective to all conversations within nursing.”
In other words, greater diversity in those embarking on nursing programs, has a ripple effect on clinical, research and education aspects of healthcare in the US.
The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action reports that there has been a steady increase in the numbers of minority students enrolled in advanced nursing education. This campaign is also supporting and applauding efforts to increase access to (and awareness of) degree programs that enable nurses to master “the complexities of care and advanced technology”.
The embracing impact of remote learning
As you can see, online learning has transformed opportunities for nursing advancement, and that has included making it a possibility for previously disenfranchised or under-served candidates.
As the cost of online programs tends to be more affordable, their availability has removed some of the disproportionate economic burden for sponsoring employers and individual candidates. As learning is remote, this too has made nursing education costs more controllable and transparent.
In addition, it no longer matters what demographic one belongs to, or where they live in the United States — the access to higher level nursing qualifications is equally available to everyone.
It is also worth mentioning that transitioning into the top nursing roles via online programs could give nurses another key advantage — they are clearly already comfortable and competent in continuous development using technology.
Being able to embark on online nursing qualifications has also enabled more students to balance their career progression with their existing work and family commitments. A good illustration would be a single parent, or a candidate with children and a partner who needs to continue their existing employment. The option to complete nursing qualifications online, fitting learning and clinical experience around existing commitments, is exciting and enabling.
Clearly then, as more candidates optimize the advantages of online nursing qualification programs, skills gaps will shrink, and the brain drain will start to dry up.
