Pandemic seen as driving interest in pursuing a healthcare career

The Covid-19 pandemic has focused attention on nursing careers, and schools around the Granite State are seeing more people apply to become nurses.

Since the early days of the pandemic, the sometimes unappreciated work that frontline nurses do has been brought to the forefront. The media converged on the subject when healthcare facilities were overrun due to the huge number of people affected by Covid descending on hospitals.

“The pandemic has shined a light on how difficult the job [of a nurse] is,” said Pamela DiNapoli, executive director of the New Hampshire Nurses Association, a not-forprofit advocating for all nurses in the state.

“I was thinking the younger population may not want to go into a job so difficult. But I have been pleasantly surprised that there is a real resurgence in the role.”

At Saint Anselm College in Manchester, 843 people had applied for the nursing program beginning in the fall of 2021. That is up from 799 applicants for 2020 and 796 for 2019.

At Colby-Sawyer College in New London the number of applications for the undergraduate nursing program has increased at a slightly slower clip: 355 this year compared to 342 last year, with two weeks left until the deadline. However, compared to this time last year, 34% more people have committed to the program by sending in their deposit, said Kevin Finn, dean of the School of Nursing & Health Sciences, who was hired in mid-2020.

The school recently intensified its longstanding partnership with Dartmouth- Hitchcock medical system, which has been a contributing factor to increased interest in Colby-Sawyer’s nursing programs, Finn said.

‘The reality of nursing’

Rivier University in Nashua offers associate to doctoral degrees in nursing. Sister Paula Marie Buley, president of the university, has also witnessed a jump in interest in the program. Undergraduate program acceptances have doubled and deposits have tripled compared to last year, she said.

At Keene State College, incoming students must commit to the undergraduate nursing program by May 1. Last year by that date, the school saw 27 incoming freshman out of 223 applicants enroll and put down a deposit. This year there were already 223 applications by mid-March, and 17 students had put down a deposit.

It isn’t only undergraduate programs that are seeing heightened interest.

Currently, Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester is only offering online programs for post-licensure degrees, which allow current registered nurses to complete their bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) or a master’s degree in nursing. Those programs have seen a small uptick in interest, said Peggy Moriarty-Litz, chief nursing administrator at SNHU.

“It shows that students are interested and dedicated to nursing and want to get to the next level in their profession,” she said.

While the added interest can be attributed to would-be nursing students seeing the pandemic play out firsthand, there are other perks drawing people to nursing at New Hampshire schools.

Most nurses are able to find a job after graduation, and many in-state schools have close to 100% of students succeed at the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX), which nurses are required to pass, school officials point out.

Unfortunately, due to the number of clinical positions remaining unchanged at most schools and the need for a certain teacher-to-student ratio, the number of people accepted into nursing programs has not increased at the majority of schools that spoke with the Granite State News Collaborative.

However, some institutions are adding new programs or classes that are a direct result of the pandemic.

Franklin Pierce University in Rindge launched a Master’s Entry Program in Nursing in fall 2020. It allows someone with a bachelor’s degree or higher in another field to enter the field of nursing, obtaining an RN license and a master’s degree in nursing in just 18 months. The school also has plans to grow its master of physician assistant studies and doctor of physical therapy programs.

Two new tracks will soon be part of the Colby-Sawyer’s master of science in nursing program: nursing education, and nursing management and executive leadership.

For the past four years, students in Plymouth State University’s nursing program have participated in a disaster drill that involves triaging patients during a pandemic.

It certainly has been time timely for what has happened during the past year.

“Graduating seniors have been involved in the disaster drill and a lot of the skills needed are ones used during a pandemic,” said Jean Coffey, director of nursing at the school. “They learn the skills of managing an unpredictable situation, how to provide care for the sickest, and who needs care right away. It’s a fairly unique program.”

Now, other nursing programs are incorporating that type of learning.

This article is are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.