Program Makes Educational Chances For Nurses

As states by a 2007 analysis by the Florida Center for Nursing, the mean age of a nurse is 47, but in spite of the requirement for more nurses to serve Florida's aging populace, more than half of applicants having the necessary qualifications were refused admittance from Florida nursing schools due to inadequate supply of qualified faculty.

To solve this complex problem that needs the cooperation and commitment of the whole community, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida began Enter Generation RN. This program is a public or private partnership extending to every part of the state to make extra educational and career chances for progress for nurses. It is one of different long-term solutions that are being utilized by First Coast Nurse Leaders, a local union of health care givers, hospitals, universities and health departments.

Rachel Thomas, a professor of nursing at Florida Community College at Jacksonville, achieved the advanced nursing degrees required to become a nurse educator through funding assistance from Blue Cross. She was a 1999 graduate of Jacksonville University's Nursing School and finally got her Ph.D. through the University of Florida's distance learning program at UF-Shands.

From being a nurse practitioner, Rachel Thomas made a decision to become a professor of nursing through the influence of doctors and fellow nurse practitioners, as well as her professors at Jacksonville University and University of Florida.

The Enter Generation RN program and the University of Florida's distance learning program at UF-Shands are programs that help nurses to become professors of nursing.

[Via My Clay Sun]