Bassett, Hartwick College align to encourage careers in nursing and nursing education.
Bassett Healthcare Network employees who pursue degrees in nursing and nursing education at Hartwick College will receive a 30% tuition discount in a joint venture between the health system and college.
Three educational tracks will be offered at a substantial tuition discount to Bassett employees by the Oneonta, New York-based college: a Master of Science in nursing education, certificate of advanced study in nursing education, and the accelerated (two-year) BS in nursing.
“We deeply appreciate our nurses and encourage them to expand their knowledge,” said Tommy Ibrahim, Bassett’s president and CEO. “This partnership between Bassett Healthcare Network and Hartwick College provides a great incentive to members of the Bassett team interested in advancing their careers in nursing and nursing education and benefits our patients. We hope many will participate.”
The need is considerable. More than 1.1 million new nurses will be needed in the United States by 2030, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, a staffing crisis exacerbated by the shortage of nursing educators.
Additionally, nursing schools had to turn away more than 78,000 qualified applications in 2022 alone due to lack of faculty and training sites, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). Even more concerning, 10,000 applications were turned away from graduate programs, further limiting the pool of potential nurse educators, according to AACN.
“In a field as dynamic as nursing, we are committed to educating the educators, and equipping our nurses with ongoing opportunities to increase their knowledge,” said Angela Belmont, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, Bassett’s senior vice president and chief nurse executive. “This opportunity to learn and grow benefits not only Bassett employees, but our patients and our communities as well.”
The collaboration is the latest in a long history of partnership in higher learning for nursing and nursing education students between Bassett and Hartwick. In the late 1940s, Bassett established a four-year nursing program, with two years of didactic training at Hartwick, followed by one year of practical training at Bassett Medical Center in Cooperstown, New York, and nine months of training at Columbia University in New York City.
Bassett’s Partnership for Nursing Opportunities (PNO) was created in 2001 as a joint venture with Hartwick and State University of New York Delhi to help ease rural nursing shortages. That program, which allowed nurses to pursue an associate or bachelor’s degree while continuing to work, with Bassett paying the tuition in full, resulted in more than 100 new nurses within the decade.
"Hartwick College is deeply committed to positively impacting the region in which it sits,” said Darren Reisberg, president of Hartwick College. “This new joint endeavor with Bassett Healthcare Network, leveraging Hartwick's longstanding eminence in nursing and addressing such a critical need, is a tangible example of this commitment."
Carol Davis is the Nursing Editor at HealthLeaders, an HCPro brand.
Photo credit: Bennekom / Shutterstock.com
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Bassett employees pursuing or furthering their nursing education will receive a 30% tuition discount at Hartwick College.
The incentive is intended to encourage Bassett employees to advance their careers in nursing and nursing education.
The collaboration is the latest in a long history of partnership between Bassett and Hartwick.