Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1170652
8 Working Nurse l WorkingNurse.com September 16–October 14, 2019 ON THE QUICK Nursing & Healthcare News For direct links to the websites cited, find these articles at WorkingNurse.com The Next Generation Nursing schools report robust student applications, completion rates T he BRN recently released its latest report on California's prelicensure nursing programs, offering mostly good news for our state's future RN supply. Strong Numbers The latest survey, conducted by UCSF researchers and covering the 2017–18 academic year, found that while the number of pre- licensure programs held steady, at 141, qualified applications and new enrollments were at their highest levels since 2009–10: 14,154 new enrollments out of 38,359 applications. Both program completions and first-time NCLEX pass rates were at 10-year highs. There were 11,890 completions in the 2017–18 school year, and more than 90 percent of both ADN and BSN grads passed the NCLEX on their first try. After declining steadily for years, the number of ADN students has rallied somewhat since 2016. Forty-nine percent of new grads in this cohort were ADN-prepared while 43.9 percent had BSNs. (The rest were in entry-level master's programs.) New grad employment was also up: Program directors report- ed that 83.2 percent of new graduates were working in nursing in California, the highest employment rate since 2008–09. More Faculty and Clinical Placements Needed Along with robust enrollment comes a need for more faculty. Although staffing numbers were the highest they've been in the past decade — a total of 4,939 full- and part-time faculty — there were still 430 vacancies. Sixty-nine percent of programs said their faculty's schedules were overloaded. Another point of concern was limited access to clinical place- ments. More than half the programs said they had been denied access to some clinical placements, affecting a total of 2,366 students. This was often a result of hosting facilities' experienced nurs- es being too busy to supervise students, but some facilities no longer accept ADN students at all. Many clinical placements also impose significant restrictions on student nurses, forcing pro- grams to rely on simulation training to make up the gaps in hands-on experience. You can read the full report at rn.ca.gov/forms/reports. WN Vaping and Lung Disease 450 cases, several deaths linked to e-cigarette use L ast issue, we wrote about the alarming growth of vaping among young people. Now, it appears e-cigarette use has a body count. The CDC and state health officials are track- ing a multistate outbreak of severe respi- ratory disease in people who vape — a mysterious illness that's already killed at least three patients. Difficulty Breathing Although many e-cigarette users assume vaping is safer than smoking conventional cigarettes, the CDC reports that at least 450 people in 33 states — including California — have recently developed severe pulmonary disease after vaping. Deaths have been reported in Illinois, Oregon and Indiana. CDC Acting Deputy Director for Non- Infectious Diseases Ileana Arias, Ph.D., says the cases have a similar progression: short- ness of breath and difficulty breathing that gets progressively worse, sometimes accompanied by vomiting or other gas- trointestinal distress. Most patients have required hospitalization, often involving mechanical ventilation and steroids. In a press briefing on September 6, Arias said, "while this investigation is ongoing, people should consider not using e-cigarette products." Still No Smoking Gun Health officials say there's no indication of bacterial or viral infection in these cases, but beyond that, there are still more questions than answers. While all patients reported using e-cigarettes, it isn't clear if there are any common fac- tors such as a particular product or pat- tern of use. It isn't even clear if the cases all involved tobacco-based e-liquids; many, though not all, patients reported having used cannabis-based products. Investigators are still conducting follow-up interviews in hopes of learning more. "We do know that e-cigarettes do not emit a harmless aerosol," says Brian King, Ph.D., MPH, deputy director of research translation in the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health. "They can include a variety of potentially harmful ingredients, including ingredients that are harmful in terms of pulmonary illness." For now, the CDC urges healthcare providers to report cases of possibly vap- ing-related pulmonary illness to local health departments. WN