Massachusetts Board of Higher Education

Opportunity 1: A full Laerdal SimMan Patient Simulator;
Opportunity 2: A full Laerdal SimBaby Patient Simulator;
Opportunity 3: Funding support to develop SimMan or SimBaby scenarios based on the Nurse of the Future Nursing Core Competencies©.

Home > Current Initiatives > Nursing Initiative

Board of Higher Education Nursing Initiative

About the Nursing Initiative

Since 2005, the Board of Higher Education, with funding from the Legislature, has worked with the Massachusetts Hospital Association and other health care stakeholders to develop the Massachusetts Public Higher Education Initiative in Nursing Education. The Initiative seeks to address a two-fold problem: an acute shortage of nurses and a shortage of nursing educators.

In 2003, there were 7,000 unfilled nursing positions in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Hospital Association projects the shortage to reach nearly 10,000 nurses by 2010 and to surpass 25,000 by the year 2020. There is no shortage, however, of nursing students; qualified students currently are required to wait for nursing program openings. The shortage of faculty, clinical sites, and laboratory facilities compound this problem.

Through partnerships, the Board of Higher Education seeks to increase the number of nursing faculty, improve the capacity in public higher education nursing programs, and meet the future demands for health care personnel. The Nursing Initiative Advisory Committee assists with the strategic goals of the program.