Wysocki joins Hochul as governor signs key nursing simulation bill

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Governor Kathy Hochul on Monday signed legislation to allow nursing students to complete up to one-third of their required clinical work in a high-quality simulation environment.

During the ceremony, Hochul was flanked by state nursing education leaders, including Annette Wysocki, dean of the University at Buffalo School of Nursing.

The legislation aims to address New York’s nursing shortage and align the state’s standards for nursing students with 31 other states that offer similar simulation programs. The simulated experiences are subject to rigorous standards, oversight and approval by the New York State Department of Education.

“This bill will provide schools of nursing the opportunity to increase our capacity to expand our enrollment,” says Wysocki. “High fidelity simulations create situations that require critical thinking that is required to deliver advanced therapeutics and create workforce-ready practitioners for today's health care environment.”

The bill is supported by New York’s nursing education programs, including the UB School of Nursing, along with the state’s leading health care unions and associations.

The urgent demand for nurses amid a rapidly growing nurse shortage in New York and across the nation is reaching a point of crisis due to several factors, some of which include:

• Limited clinical placements impede nursing schools’ ability to educate more nurses.
• More than half of registered nurses are nearing retirement age.
• High-stress environments and demanding nurse-to-patient staffing ratios are contributing to nurse burnout – an issue that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic – leading some nurses to leave the profession.
• As the population ages, the demand for specialized health care – and nurses – continues to increase.
• Nursing schools face challenges in recruiting and retaining qualified faculty members. Without a mechanism to address barriers to increasing enrollment in undergraduate nursing programs, enrollment in graduate programs – the pipeline for nursing faculty – will be insufficient to support the needed growth of nursing education programs.

The New York bill is one important step in addressing the state’s nursing shortage, which is predicted to be a deficit of more than 40,000 nurses by 2030.

During a press conference, Hochul noted that the availability of high-tech, high-quality simulation allows students to gain hands-on experience in a range of scenarios they may not encounter during clinical placements. The approval of this legislation, she says, allows the state to “prioritize learning without sacrificing patient safety.”