Trying to ease the nursing crunch

Nurses are in high demand, and Niagara University is trying to bulk up its nursing school.

A $400,000 grant from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation is helping Niagara add new tools and training opportunities to its nursing programs to address the nursing shortage and other side effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dean Christine Verni said the grant will enable the College of Nursing to target pandemic-related issues that threaten efforts to increase the nursing workforce, which currently has more available jobs than any other profession.

More nursing students

Niagara University is seeing increasing enrollment in its nursing school, which currently serves 350 undergrads, at a time when retaining them and preparing them for new challenges in their future careers is critical.

The American Nurses Association cites a need to fill 100,000 nursing jobs nationally that’s expected to grow by 11% per year. A pre-Covid study by the State Department of Health predicted a shortage of 39,000 nurses across the state by 2030.

The grant allows Niagara nursing to pursue several new ways to help students succeed in school and beyond, despite pandemic-related challenges affecting nursing and nursing education, Verni said.

Challenge: The pandemic ushered in a new era of telemedicine that’s here to stay, especially for patients in rural communities or socially restricted due to health concerns.

At the same time, the burden Covid placed on community health providers reduced their ability to offer hands-on practical rotations to nursing students. Covid also curbed the college’s ability to recruit “simulated patients” to role-play in-person interactions with students.

Solution: The grant allowed the college’s Nursing Simulation Center to purchase 24 pairs of virtual reality headsets and a VR platform that allows students to “see,” examine and interact with virtual patients in a hospital environment. The tool gives students a wide range of practice scenarios to better prepare them to interact with patients remotely and in person.

“The VR goggles allow our students to train on campus with virtual patients like someone experiencing a diabetic emergency or a baby having trouble breathing and the mother is panicking,” Verni said. “It doesn’t take up a lot of space and students can experience patients with conditions that might not occur on a physical rotation.”

Challenge: The pandemic pointed up a need for training in end-of-life care for nurses, who will be at the bedsides of more dying patients as an aging population requires more palliative care. End-of-life care requires not just symptom management, but also intensive communication skills, family support and bereavement training as well as self-care to prevent burnout, a major cause of nurses leaving the field.

Solution: The grant allows the college to provide end of life nursing training to future nurses who otherwise “would have to pay for this additional certification or get the experience on the job,” Verni said.

The training “prepares nurses to meet the needs not just of elderly patients, but any patient approaching the end of life. This is an opportunity for us to better position students to care for that population.”

Challenge: Students coming out of high school during the pandemic spent the last two years learning online, resulting in poorer college prep for many.

Verni said she was already seeking ways to help students who have difficulty with first-semester science classes, causing some to drop out. The pandemic made the problem worse.

“This year we saw tremendous challenges for students, particularly in chemistry, after no Regents exams were held due to Covid and online learning may have been inadequate,” she said.

Solution: The grant helped the college devise a summer course for incoming freshmen to prep them for their first semester.

Niagara developed an online chemistry course for incoming students to take during the summer – before school starts. "We hope it opens doors for a more diverse population of students going forward," Verni said.

The nursing school is also applying some of the grant money to offer training in electronic medical records systems, interacting with patients whose primary language is not English and caring for LBGTQ people whose medical conditions conflict with their gender identity.

Finally, the grant will help train nursing faculty in teaching resilience, conflict resolution and stress management, all significant factors in “making us question if what we’re doing is the right path,” Verni said.

– Janet Gramza

Welcome to Buffalo Next. This newsletter from The Buffalo News will bring you the latest coverage on the changing Buffalo Niagara economy – from real estate to health care to startups. Read more at BuffaloNext.com.

THE LATEST

Catch up on news tied to Buffalo Niagara's economy

Douglas Jemal continues to buy downtown Buffalo properties, paying $1.14 million for the three-story building housing JJ's Casa di Pizza Restaurant on E. Mohawk St., as well as the adjacent Washington Street alleyway parking lot.

After slashing costs in the first quarter, Buffalo biopharmaceutical company Athenex Inc. is pivoting its focus, trimming its expenses and strengthening its balance sheet, while focusing on developing cell therapy programs.

The confrontation that led to a felony charge against Christopher H. Koch, CEO of New Era Cap Co., began Saturday night when his girlfriend's ex-husband pulled up and abruptly confronted Koch by Oliver’s Restaurant.

A federal complaint filed against Starbucks accuses the company of engaging in illegal workplace behavior toward employees of its Buffalo-area stores.

Mickey Rats Beach Club is planning to open for business again by Memorial Day, for what may be its final summer, as plans for its redevelopment are proceeding but have been delayed, while neighboring Captain Kidd's has already been demolished.

Dr. Todd E. Shatkin's $7.85 million project to create a dentistry college alongside his existing Amherst businesses is drawing criticism over the unusual structure of the relationship with Daemen College, and his bid for nearly $400,000 in sales tax breaks.

Dr. Jill Owens was named interim president of Upper Allegheny Health System, which includes Olean General Hospital and Bradford Regional Medical Center.

A $1.5 million donation to the John R. Oishei Children's Hospital from KeyBank and the First Niagara Foundation will further develop and sustain a program to address maternal health and racial equality in health care.

Amid a contract dispute with National Fuel Gas, IBEW Local 2154 representing the utility's workers in Southwest New York state and Northwest Pennsylvania is holding out the possibility of going on strike.

Katherine Conway-Turner, president of SUNY Buffalo State, discussed with The News the future of the school, the challenges ahead, and the needs of new students and how the school is addressing them.

Union Workers at a Starbucks store at Delaware and Chippewa held a one-day strike after the Starbucks interim CEO's comments about extending pay increases and enhanced benefits to workers at stores that are not organizing.

The Super Flea is back, and its coming to the Buffalo Outer Harbor for a four-month span on select weekend dates starting June 4, with at least 350 vendors selling their wares. 

Roswell Park is planning to rehab a historic 1,300-square-foot house at 907 Michigan Ave. while constructing a significant modern addition to the south that will more than double its size.

In the largest deal in the firm’s nine-year history, Buffalo-based private equity firm Lorraine Capital acquired ICM Controls, a North Syracuse manufacturer of electronic controls.

Jericho Road Community Health Center has purchased a former assisted-living facility in Buffalo for $2.05 million, with plans to renovate the structure and use it to assist asylum seekers.

Niagara University received its largest gift in the university’s 166-year history as Jeff and Mary Helen Holzschuh gave their alma mater $10 million, earning their name on its business school.

Buffalo Next reporters Jonathan D. Epstein, Jon Harris, Natalie Brophy, Janet Gramza and Mike Petro contributed to this roundup.

ICYMI

Five reads from Buffalo Next:

1. Tops Friendly Markets is making upgrades to many of its local stores: They're not only improving its look and product offerings, but also updating its technology and reducing electricity costs by using solar farms to provide renewable energy.

2. Costco will open its first Western New York store in what is considered one of the busiest shopping districts in the Buffalo Niagara region – the Niagara Falls Boulevard retail corridor. So, how will it fit?

3. Buffalo's angel investors all hope to hit it big, but that is not their primary motivation. They see investing in startups as their way of contributing to the region's economic resurgence.

4. Energy road map calls for sweeping changes for WNY homeowners: A new statewide energy plan being debated would gradually phase out the use of natural gas in homes and buildings, in favor of greater reliance on electricity.

5. A road increasingly traveled: Fed-up nurses turn to lucrative travel work. Perhaps no issue looms larger for Western New York's hospitals, paying huge costs to travel agencies amid a staffing pinch and desperately searching for permanent employees to lessen their reliance on high-priced temporary workers.

The Buffalo Next team gives you the big picture on the region’s economic revitalization. Email tips to buffalonext@buffnews.com or reach Deputy Business Editor David Robinson at 716-849-4435.

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