A Message from Dean Linda S. Weglicki, November 2022

Happy fall! With so much going on in health care, nursing and the College of Nursing right now, I would like to share three timely updates from the national and state level.

There continue to be challenges along with growing national attention to address the health and well-being of the US health care workforce as well as attention to the growing faculty and nursing workforce shortage. The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) launched the National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being initiative on October 3. This call to action was issued to mobilize stakeholders to create and sustain positive work environments as well as cultures of well-being while addressing the growing problems of burnout, depression and suicide among health care workers, all exacerbated with the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, 30 national organizations, including several highly visible nursing organizations (e.g., American Nursing Association, American Colleges of Nursing, American Association of Critical Care Nurses) have endorsed the plan. To read more about the NAM National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being, see: National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being - National Academy of Medicine (nam.edu).

Also, on October 3, the US Department of Labor released a funding opportunity for the new Nursing Expansion Grant Program. The aim of the funding ($80 million in total) under this initiative is to “expand and diversify” 1) nursing pathways designed to train frontline health care professionals and paraprofessionals, and 2) nursing profession designed to increase the number of clinical and vocational nursing instructors and educators by training new or upskilling experienced current or former nurses (including retired nurses) into advanced postsecondary credentialing necessary to become clinical and vocational nursing instructors/educators. Projects selected for funding under this initiative will hopefully help address some of the bottlenecks in training the US nursing workforce and expand diversity within the pipeline of future nursing professionals.

At the South Carolina state level, the $10 million allocated for disbursement this fiscal year and outlined by the SC General Assembly to the “Nursing Initiative” as a first step to address South Carolina’s nursing workforce shortage will focus on faculty workforce. The Proviso outlining the allocation of funds “to the state’s public colleges and universities, including technical colleges, with accredited nursing programs,” is being administered by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education (CHE) and is getting underway. Over the past three months, I have participated in a number of CHE led webinars, and roundtable conversations with leading Deans and Directors, and have had a number of personal conversations with CHE leaders to advocate for nursing and MUSC. As more information is finalized in disbursement and allocation of funds use by CHE, I will continue to share updates with you.

In closing, I hope you enjoy this beautiful month of gratitude. Thanksgiving blessings to you, your family, and loved ones.

In-service and respectfully,
Linda S. Weglicki, Ph.D., R.N.
Dean and professor