International Nurse’s Day saw a new commitment to nursing education from a healthcare staffing management company, Health Carousel Philippines, which promised $200K to nurse education and training over the next three years. This represents a massive investment in nurses and our healthcare system, but it only represents a portion of the company’s Light the Way initiative, which has already invested heavily in bolstering ethical and sustainable nurse recruiting practices.
Health Carousel’s Light the Way Doing Just That
The Light the Way initiative gets its name from Florence Nightingale, also known as The Lady with the Lamp, and the Founder of Modern Nursing. During her time, Ms. Nightingale made nightly rounds caring for wounded soldiers, attending to their needs for compassionate care. A barely visible oil lamp is said to have lit her way.
More recently, since 2004, when the program was founded, the administrators have worked tirelessly to promote better nurse recruitment strategies on the national and global stage. They’ve helped hundreds of nursing students get their nursing master’s degrees since its inception. Their announcement of an additional $200K was only a natural extension of this earlier work and will target a slightly different group.
How They’ll Maximize the Return on Their Investment
In the US specifically, they’ve already dedicated funds to nursing scholarships, aptly called the “Light the Way Scholarship”. These funds will go primarily to existing nurses who want to return to school to achieve higher levels of nursing education and potentially become educators themselves. As we speak, Health Carousel is in talks with administrators at educational institutions on how best to vet candidates and deliver these awards.
Health Carousel recently announced it was partnering with Chamberlain University.
As for their international endeavors, they’ve earmarked funds for various programs, including one in the Philippines for nurses seeking their Ph.D. nurse educator degrees. As many in the industry know, the lack of nurse educators has hampered the speed with which new nurses can be trained. With many veteran nurses leaving the profession entirely, few exist to mentor the next generation.
According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing nursing programs in the US alone had to deny admission to around 80,000 qualified aspiring nurses because their programs were already at capacity.
By investing here, Health Carousel is ensuring this money doesn’t just change one nurse’s life but many of their students over the following decades. Through this approach, they hope to have the most significant impact possible on an ongoing and challenging nurse hiring landscape.
Who Is Health Carousel?
Health Carousel provides healthcare staffing solutions like locum tenens, a nurse who moves around the country or world to work on an assignment at facilities experiencing understaffing, increased patient demand, or other gaps in staff capacity.
As the 17th largest healthcare staffing company, they have a broad and unique view of the ongoing nursing shortage and nursing education issues. Through their efforts, more patients have access to quality care regardless of where they live.
