New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn and City University of New York (CUNY) Executive Vice Chancellor Alexandra Logue have announced plans to create 100 additional nursing positions each year for New York City for the next five years.

A press release from the New York City Council says that New York City will need 7,000 more nurses by 2020 than will be available, due to retirement and aging in the nurse population. While there is strong interest in the nursing profession in New York City, many potential nurses were turned away from CUNY Schools due to lack of capacity within the schools.

Speaker Quinn proposed the new five-year partnership between the City and CUNY to address this shortage and open opportunities for employment in New York. CUNY will work with hospitals to increase faculty at nursing programs, and identify experienced nurses for guest faculty positions. This should allow CUNY to admit an additional 100 nursing students to their programs each year, thereby creating 500 extra nurses in the next five years.

"So many New Yorkers are struggling to find jobs today," said Speaker Quinn in the press release. "But these nursing jobs are just laying vacant, waiting for a passionate and qualified nurse to fill them. This simple initiative, partnering CUNY nursing students with our hospitals' nurses, will not only create jobs when our residents need them the most, but will help our health system and hospitals that are already working with a shortage of nurses."

"Over the last five years CUNY has more than doubled the total number of graduates of its nursing programs, but even that greatly increased number is insufficient to satisfy New York City's need for new nurses," said Dr. Logue. "The additional resources to be provided through the City Council will help us to continue to expand our enrollments in these critical health programs."

In a video addition to the press release, Speaker Quinn stated that in New York City, the shortage of nurses was "particularly acute [given] our growing and aging population." The new plan would involve "minimal taxpayer dollars."

Adapted from a press release by the New York City Council.

Read more:
Link: http://council.nyc.gov/html/releases/nursing_presser_cuny_3_4_09.shtml
http://council.nyc.gov/html/red_room/blog.shtml