Health Carousel, LLC, the 17th largest US healthcare staffing company, has today announced a $200,000 three-year commitment to support a range of nurse education and training programs in the US and internationally. This is in recognition of International Nurses Day and the Year of the Nurse Educator. This financial commitment, taking effect over the course of multiple years, is merely a part of the overall Health Carousel Light the Way project. The project focuses on ethical hiring practices and helping to ensure the future viability and sustainability of the nursing profession.
Health Carousel’s Light the Way program is named after Florence Nightingale. She was the pioneer of modern nursing and was nicknamed “The Lady With the Lamp” because she performed nocturnal rounds while caring for wounded soldiers each night while using a low-oil lamp as a light source.
Since its inception in 2004, Health Carousel has supported and maintained the Light the Way initiative. This is where Health Carousel’s global programs and initiatives supporting ethical hiring and sustainability in nursing have been concentrated. Light the Way announces these new domestic and international initiatives to commemorate International Nurses Day 2022.
Helping the Nursing Field Both Here and Abroad
In the U.S., Health Carousel funds have been set aside to fund Light the Way Scholarships. These prizes will be awarded to nurses pursuing a post-graduate degree or graduate in nursing. The administration of these awards is currently being discussed with several professional, U.S.-based nursing organizations. Health Carousel also designated Chamberlain University earlier this week as a preferred partner in nursing education.
Light the Way funds are also used to support many nurse sustainability programs around the globe. The money will be used by the Philippines to fund scholarships for Ph.D. nurse educators. This will help increase the number of students in nursing programs and the quality of their instruction. Money is being provided to the Uganda Nurse and Midwives Union in collaboration to establish a nurse training laboratory. More projects are already in development.
Putting Nurse Educators and Nursing Education First
Health Carousel decided to use the funds to improve nurse education capacity to address the global nursing shortage. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, more than 80,000 qualified applicants were rejected by U.S. nursing schools in 2019 due to a shortage of instructors. Most Filipino nursing professors lack advanced education and training, evident in the low pass rate of students taking the national nurse licensure exam. Similar problems still exist in other countries.
According to Earl Dalton (Chief Nursing Officer at Health Carousel), these initiatives impact patient care. Dalton says, “Health Carousel invests in alarming trends in the industry that could jeopardize patient care. Specifically, the United States has a rapidly declining number of skilled nurses, yet our patient population is growing more complex. The result is a growing gap between complexity and experience. The result is that there aren’t enough experienced nurses to help the newer nurses. Health Carousel’s investments in nursing education and postgraduate degrees are a practical solution.”
Bill DeVille is the founder and chair of Health Carousel. He states, “Health Carousel has a long tradition of quietly celebrating the investment in the future of nursing. Many people don’t know that hundreds of nurses have received Master’s degrees in nursing since we were founded in 2004. Many who have received these honors are now nurses, educators or leaders in the United States and abroad.”
