WEBSTER GROVES — Webster University will open a new college of science and health in June with hopes of doubling its enrollment in health science programs over the next five years.
It’s a sharp turn from the university’s former focus on the arts.
“Now is the time for another technological revolution,†said Julian Schuster, president of the university. “Cybersecurity, health, science — not only creating serving professions but doing that for the sake of the community — for the continuing, compelling unmet need.â€
Webster is among several schools in the region that have expanded nursing and health sciences programs to meet a soaring need in the medical workforce. With an aging population and a crippling pandemic, health and science graduates are in high demand.
For more than two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed both the importance of nurses and the strain on the health care workforce. Hospitals and long-term care centers have been so short-staffed in recent times that they’ve had to delay or cancel procedures.
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A national labor shortage existed in health care even before the pandemic. But COVID-19 has put the system under such unusual stress that it’s difficult to say for sure how many new nurses the nation needs, academic experts say.
The pandemic scrambled forecasts by increasing demand for nurses in key roles, such as intensive care units and emergency rooms, while simultaneously driving away nurses who were burned out, seeking higher pay, unable to find child care or unwilling to get vaccinated, according to Peter Buerhaus of the Center for Interdisciplinary Health Workforce Studies at Montana State University.
“We’re kind of in a volatile period right now,†Buerhaus said. It’s possible that some nurses who quit during the pandemic will return, he said, or that demand for services will settle back to pre-pandemic levels.
But local nursing schools have not seen a decline in applications nor enrollment during the pandemic.
COVID-19 has made young people more aware of nursing as a career path, said Danny Willis, dean of ºüÀêÊÓƵ University’s nursing school.
“Nursing is on the forefront of people’s consciousness in a way that it perhaps wasn’t before,†Willis said. “I think that, if anything, COVID has raised the visibility of the work.â€
More people are also aware of how difficult nursing is, he said, adding, “Nursing is not for the weak.â€
A shortage of instructors
Solving the supply problem is not as easy as steering more students into health care majors. Nationwide, nursing programs rejected more than 90,000 qualified applications in 2021 because they didn’t have space for any more students, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
Nursing programs also require hands-on training, including supervised placements in hospitals, clinics and other health care settings.
“Expanding a nursing program is not an easy task,†said Donna Meyer, CEO of the California-based Organization for Associate Degree Nursing.
In her former job as dean of health sciences at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, Meyer said, she expanded the nursing program from 93 to 300 students by 2015. But it required a big investment. “We built a brand-new building; we got resources to hire learning specialists, have a simulation lab, hire more faculty,†she recalled.
Southern Illinois University Carbondale managed to add a nursing program in fall of 2020 that will eventually enroll up to 300 students.
Another challenge with expanding nursing schools is a shortage of instructors. About 8% of faculty jobs across 935 nursing programs nationwide were vacant in the 2021-2022 academic year, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, a Washington-based lobbying group.
Nursing program accreditors typically require faculty to have at least a master’s degree, but such highly educated nurses can earn much more in clinical settings than they can teaching.
Pamela Franklin has been a nurse for 32 years and is working toward a master’s degree at Webster University to become a full-time educator. Through a partnership with the Missouri Hospital Association, students like Franklin are able to teach at ºüÀêÊÓƵ Community College and other nursing schools while they complete their degrees.
“Obviously there’s a nursing shortage, but without enough instructors, we’re not going to be able to graduate new RNs,†Franklin said.
Health care companies nationwide are increasingly pairing with colleges to address the workforce shortage through tuition incentives, paid internships and other initiatives. Federal pandemic relief funds also have been targeted at getting more students into the medical field.
New facilities, expanding programs
In a recent class at Webster University, nursing anesthesia doctoral students learned how to use ultrasound to assess trauma patients. The simulated patient appeared on an interactive touchscreen where assistant professor Nicholas Curdt manipulated the image to peel back layers of skin and muscle to investigate injured organs.
Webster’s new college of science and health will hold classes in high-tech Browning Hall, which opened in 2017, for graduate programs like nursing anesthesia and undergraduate programs including nursing and exercise science.
By 2027, university leaders aim to enroll 1,750 in the health science fields, or more than a third of the university’s 5,000 students in ºüÀêÊÓƵ.
ºüÀêÊÓƵ Community College has grown to 557 nursing students this semester from 463 students in 2020. Programs in respiratory therapy, surgical tech and ultrasound have seen double-digit increases in enrollment rates.
“I think what we’re seeing here is the pandemic has shined a light on the opportunities that are available in health care,†said William Hubble, the college’s district dean of academic affairs-health science. “People are looking for ways to move into the profession, and community college is a very affordable way to do that.â€
The average age of nursing students at the college is 28 or 29, Hubble said.
“The majority are people that are already working in other industries and are looking for an opportunity to progress,†Hubble said. “ºüÀêÊÓƵ Community College is a major provider of employees to our area hospitals.â€
The college opened a new nursing and health sciences building at its Forest Park campus in 2019, in part to attract more students to medical professions. Similar buildings are scheduled to open on the Florissant Valley campus in 2024 and in Wildwood a few years later.
“We’re doing what we can to increase capacity,†he said. “We need people in the health care professions.â€
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The medical ICU on the 8th floor of the Central West End hospital was the first COVID ward at the busiest hospital in the state.