NoVA Nursing School Opens As DC Area Copes With Nursing Shortage
FALLS CHURCH, VA — A new Northern Virginia nursing school welcomed its first class of students earlier this month, with a goal of training new nurses at a time when the profession is facing a shortage in the Washington, D.C. area and across the country.
The Arizona College of Nursing’s Falls Church campus, located in Fairview Park near the interchange of Route 50 and the Beltway, saw its first class of 22 nursing students begin coursework on Jan. 3.
The inaugural class has students from D.C. and Maryland, although the largest number of students live in Northern Virginia. The students will be focusing on general education courses for the first few months, and then will add nursing coursework to their studies in late August at the start of the fall semester.
The first graduations from this inaugural class of students are expected after the spring 2024 semester, Yolanda Turner, Dean of Nursing at the Falls Church campus, said in an interview with Patch.
When the students move onto their nursing courses later this year, the college will have a full roster of faculty members at the Falls Church campus, Turner said.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused great stress among nurses across the country, leading some to leave the profession. Many nurses also are retiring, which is contributing to the shortage of nurses.
“The nation currently does not have enough nursing capacity,” Turner said.
The D.C. metropolitan area has one of the lowest concentrations of nurses in the country. Nursing schools in the region are graduating about 1,200 students each year at a time when the region needs thousands more.
As the huge number of baby boomers grow older and as Gen Xers near their sixties, demand for nurses will keep growing.
Among the new students at the Arizona College of Nursing are people who decided to change careers after reading the compelling stories about nurses working on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, Turner said.
Prior to joining the Arizona College of Nursing as the dean of nursing for the Falls Church campus, Turner worked for the Ascension health care system, where part of her responsibilities included admitting patients into hospitals.
At different times during the pandemic, Turner said she felt the appreciation that the public has shown for nurses and others working on the front lines.
In one instance, after removing her respirator and gown used to protect her from COVID-19, Turner left the hospital and went to grab a meal at a restaurant wearing her scrubs. "People applauded me," she said. "As a nurse, that had never happened to me before COVID."
Turner said that the Arizona College of Nursing offers counseling services to its students, especially as they begin their clinical courses and are in direct contact with patients, many of whom are extremely ill. Nursing students exposed to deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic also have been offered grief counseling by the college at its other campuses.
As part of its mission, the Arizona College of Nursing’s Falls Church campus is working to expand its partnerships with area health care centers and organizations in the D.C. area. Earlier this week, officials from Pediatric Specialists of Virginia, a nonprofit medical group created by Children's National Hospital and Inova Health System, toured the Falls Church campus and discuss forming a partnership.
"We want to be good neighbors and good nursing advocates," Turner said.
At the Arizona College of Nursing, a nationally accredited nursing school, students can earn a bachelor of science in nursing in three years, or in less time if they have course credits in health science classes that can transfer.
The Falls Church campus is Arizona College of Nursing’s first in Virginia. The college also has campuses in Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Texas, Florida and Michigan.
This article originally appeared on the Falls Church Patch
