SUNY Canton nursing program could see influx of students

CANTON — Enrollment in SUNY Canton’s online nursing courses could spike if a proposed state law is approved that requires new registered nurses to earn bachelor’s degrees within 10 years to keep working in New York.

State lawmakers are considering the bill as part of a national push to raise educational standards for nurses even as the health-care industry faces staffing shortages.

Currently, most registered nurses have two-year associate degrees.

Nurses already working in the field would be grandfathered in and wouldn’t have to meet the requirement. Nursing students who graduate with an associate degree could be hired as registered nurses but would have to earn their bachelor’s degree within 10 years.

John F. Conklin, director of SUNY Canton’s associate program, said the college has about 180 students enrolled this year in its associate nursing program and had to place additional students on a waiting list. An additional 50 students are enrolled in the college’s one-year practical nursing certificate program.

In 2009, the college created a four-year degree program known as the RN-to-BS program with the last two years of schooling completed through online courses.

About 90 students are enrolled in the online bachelor’s degree nursing classes.

“It’s specially designed for individuals who graduated from a two-year associate’s nursing program,” Mr. Conklin said. “Most of the people enrolled are working registered nurses who are taking the online classes on a part-time basis.”

Online classes are popular with employed nurses who often work alternating shifts that make it difficult to get to campus for classes on a regular basis, he said.

Mr. Conklin said if the beefed-up requirements are approved, enrollment in the RN-to-BS program likely would increase, but it’s uncertain how much. The bachelor’s nursing program now has one full time and two part time faculty members.

“The college would have to explore how best to accommodate increased enrollment,” Mr. Conklin said. “We’re already set up really well to assist individuals who want to obtain their bachelor’s degree. We recognized that this might be coming. We’re ahead of the curve.”

He said the proposed legislation “shouldn’t cause panic” because it applies only to new students rather than those who have earned their associate degree in nursing.

The state legislation died in committee last session, but it has bipartisan support in both chambers this year and could be debated later this month.

Demand for more skilled nurses is increasing as the population gets older and has more chronic diseases. Also, 32 million more Americans are expected to gain access to health insurance from the new federal health-care law.

The bill has garnered support from the New York State Nurses Association, which has cited a 2003 University of Pennsylvania study that found that a 10 percent increase in staffing by nurses with a bachelor’s degree results in a 5 percent decrease in surgical deaths.

Mr. Conklin said upgrades in technology and medical advancements have increased the volume of information that nurses should be familiar with as they treat patients in various health-care settings.