The funding will help recruit and train the next generation of nurses for 'the most rewarding career imaginable.'
Atlantic Health System (AHS), based in Morristown, New Jersey, is poised to expand and diversify its pipeline of nurses by about 2,000 nursing jobs thanks to a $2.75 million Nursing Expansion Grant it is receiving from the U.S. Department of Labor.
The money will help establish Atlantic Health System’s Pathway to Ensuring Access and Clinical Excellence in Nursing (AHS PEACE), which will create professional pathways for RNs in acute care and critical care specialties, as well as clinical pathways for nursing assistants. Candidates from historically marginalized and underrepresented populations will be included in these positions, according to AHS.
AHS PEACE will support the creation of about 2,000 nursing jobs through the recruitment of graduating high school students, college-level undergraduates, and entry-level incumbent healthcare workers. The program will create partnerships with area colleges and universities, workforce development agencies, and non-profits.
The grant is one of 25 totaling more than $78 million that the labor department recently awarded to nursing programs in 17 states to address critical staffing challenges and to strengthen and diversify the workforce.
The grant program is a response to the profession’s significant challenges, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects an average of 203,200 openings for registered nurses each year through 2031.
“Nurses make up the single, largest group of professional team members at Atlantic Health System and are essential members of the care continuum across all of healthcare,” said Trish O’Keefe PhD, RN, senior vice president, chief nurse executive, Atlantic Health System and president of Morristown Medical Center.
“Nurses have always served on the front lines of care, as a patient’s most direct connection to needed healthcare services,” O’Keefe said. “This program … will help Atlantic Health bolster those front lines while welcoming hundreds of new healthcare workers to the most rewarding career imaginable.”
AHS, a not-for-profit system, offers more than 400 sites of care in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the New York metropolitan area, including its seven hospitals.
Carol Davis is the Nursing Editor at HealthLeaders, an HCPro brand.
Photo credit: Amy Lutz / Shutterstock.com
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The Nursing Expansion Grant Program awarded 25 grants totaling more than $78 million.
The purpose of the grants is to address critical staffing challenges and strengthen and diversify the workforce.
AHS will create professional pathways for RNs in acute care and critical care specialties, as well as clinical pathways for nursing assistants.