California’s community colleges can help ease the state’s nursing shortage | Opinion

We all valued the contributions and sacrifices health care professionals, especially nurses, made during the pandemic. At a time when we didn’t understand the science behind COVID and its treatment, nurses stepped up and risked their own personal health to treat patients and comfort families — as they often do.

We are now seeing some of the long-term implications of the working conditions that nurses worked under and the sacrifices they made and continue to make each day. Recent surveys have found that nurses are retiring at a faster rate than ever before. Nearly 20% of California nurses are considering leaving the profession and almost 35% are considering changing jobs due to pandemic-related burnout.

Opinion

California is facing a shortage of 36,000 nurses, and our current higher education infrastructure is not equipped to fully meet the need to educate these professions.

This crisis is critically evident in our Central Valley region, where the limited number of nursing programs is impacted, leaving many of our young talent no choice but to seek options outside of our region or enroll in very expensive private programs. The shortage has also created a reliance on traveling nurses, which was one factor in the increased costs of providing care for Madera Community Hospital, eventually contributing to their inability to keep their doors open.

Thankfully, Assembly Bill 2104, authored by Asm. Esmeralda Soria, D-Fresno, attempts to help alleviate these issues by establishing a pilot program to allow community colleges to offer a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. This bill complements an existing California law which enables community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees and empowers students to meet workforce demands.

Many community colleges, including those in the State Center Community College District, already offer associate degrees in nursing, but many hospitals and medical centers require a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. Adding a bachelor’s degree in nursing is a natural progression for the State Center Community College District, which has the necessary faculty to teach — all with master’s degrees and many with PhDs — as well as access to necessary facilities.

Some might say we should rely on public and private four-year institutions to address this shortage. However, in a crisis of this magnitude, it would be unwise to not leverage all available resources. Nursing programs at our public institutions are at capacity, forcing students to delay their education, take on the financial burdens of a private institution or, worse, move out of state, exacerbating California’s existing nursing shortage.

Community college degree programs are extremely affordable. New nurses leave school with an average debt of over $36,000, while tuition for a community college Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree will likely be less than 25% of that of a private institution.

Allowing community colleges to offer these degrees serves an important societal need: Not only will it expand educational opportunities for a broader range of potential applicants, particularly in rural communities, it will also enable our healthcare system to better serve disadvantaged communities and enhance diversity in the nursing profession.

Equally important, creating the opportunity for our Central Valley community colleges to offer Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees will create a crucial pipeline to train local talent with the cultural and linguistic backgrounds needed to properly serve local communities.

If we don’t act, the nursing shortage will likely get worse, with some projections of a shortage of almost 45,000 in California by 2030. We are hopeful that California will join 15 other states in allowing community colleges like Fresno City College and Merced City College to confer bachelor’s degrees in nursing.

Asm. Esmeralda Soria represents the 27th District, which includes Merced, Madera and Fresno Counties. Dr. Carole Goldsmith is chancellor of the State Center Community College District.