HOUSE MEMORIAL 50

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2010

INTRODUCED BY

Eleanor Chavez

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO CENTER FOR NURSING EXCELLENCE AND THE BOARD OF NURSING TO CONVENE A TASK FORCE TO DEVELOP A NEW STATEWIDE EDUCATION PLAN AND REPORT TO THE LEGISLATURE ON THAT PLAN.

     WHEREAS, out of fifty states and the District of Columbia, New Mexico ranks fiftieth for the number of nurses per one hundred thousand population; and

     WHEREAS, according to the New Mexico center for nursing excellence, New Mexico will need an estimated five thousand more nurses in the work force than were in the work force as of June 2008 in order to meet projected needs; and

     WHEREAS, programs to educate nurses in New Mexico have almost doubled their capacity in the last seven years; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico schools offering nursing degree programs were unable to admit two hundred forty qualified applicants for the 2009-2010 academic year, which represents twenty percent of all applicants; and

     WHEREAS, according to a recent survey and study conducted by the New Mexico center for nursing excellence, between forty-eight and one hundred seventy-one additional full-time-equivalent nursing faculty members are needed to be able to admit all qualified candidates for a nursing degree; and

     WHEREAS, many barriers exist to the recruitment and retention of nursing faculty members, including faculty compensation that does not compete with practice settings, a weak educational pipeline to develop new faculty, models of education that prohibit collaboration among institutions and a challenging and difficult work environment; and

     WHEREAS, in January 2009, the higher education department issued the New Mexico Nursing Program Development Enhancement Fund Study, which contained recommendations to increase the capacity of New Mexico educational institutions to educate nurses and to increase the number of nurse faculty members, including encouraging career pathways for master's- and doctoral-level educators to teach in nursing programs and increases in faculty salaries through multi-level strategies; and

     WHEREAS, the study conducted by the New Mexico center for nursing excellence recommended that nurse educators, supported by the higher education department, develop a statewide plan for nursing education to address the identified barriers and challenges to ensuring an adequate supply of nurses to meet future demand; and

     WHEREAS, a task force created in 2009 pursuant to House Joint Memorial 40, made up of the New Mexico higher education department, the board of nursing and the center for nursing excellence, found that experienced faculty who are at retirement age might extend their careers by having the flexibility to reach students through off-site distance learning; and

     WHEREAS, the House Joint Memorial 40 task force found that the current nursing educational system, in which each nursing educational institution is responsible for developing its own curriculum, recruiting and retaining qualified faculty and finding clinical rotations for nursing students, is highly inefficient; and

     WHEREAS, the House Joint Memorial 40 task force found that the development of a statewide curriculum to decrease faculty preparatory time; the sharing of faculty to make the best use of existing expertise; the regional sharing of facilities; and the use of web-based education for common core curricula would afford new efficiencies in nursing education;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the center for nursing excellence and the board of nursing be requested to develop a statewide plan for nursing education involving multiple institutions of nursing education, focusing upon:

          A. the development of programs, such as the registered-nurse to bachelor-of-science-in-nursing program and the bachelor-of-science-in-nursing to doctorate-in-nursing program, to train nursing faculty from the population of nurses;

          B. the development of a statewide curriculum for nursing education;

          C. the use of simulation and tele-education and other distance-learning technology to enhance nursing education and promote the efficient use of resources;

          D. providing a seamless admission process to nursing school;

          E. allowing the possibility of dual enrollment in associate's and bachelor's of science in nursing programs;

          F. allowing early entry into master's of science in nursing or nursing doctorate programs; and

          G. sharing faculty among nursing educational institutions; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, following the development of a statewide nursing education plan, the center for nursing excellence and the board of nursing be requested to develop a statewide infrastructure for distance learning and a central curriculum resource web site; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the center for nursing excellence and the director of the board of nursing report their findings to the legislative health and human services committee and the legislative education study committee by November 1, 2010; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the director of the center for nursing excellence and the director of the board of nursing.

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