Nursing Resources & Links

New York State has serious, long-term health workforce shortages. Hospitals, long-term care, and home healthcare agency leaders in communities across New York State have identified critical workforce shortages that continue to be exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has made an immediate and long-lasting impact on the nursing profession. Some nurses suffered devastating health consequences. Many dealt with excessive on-the-job stress factors, such as shortages of adequate personal protective equipment, hospital jobs abruptly changing, and caring for patients outside their realms of expertise, often with minimal training – all while isolated from their families.  Burnout in the nursing profession is likely and for some nurses, conditions under which they worked may be the last straw that drives them away from bedside nursing. However, nursing schools are drawing more applicants and  increased professional autonomy, leadership opportunities, and career growth potential have resulted from pandemic-based health care needs.

Catskill Hudson AHEC addresses critical health workforce issues such as these and offers viable resources and takeaways to attendees of our annual continuing education programs.  

Some of Catskill Hudson AHEC’s current initiatives include:

Nursing Summit – Catskill Hudson AHEC

In 2004, Catskill Hudson AHEC presented its first Nursing Summit to nurse administrators and nurse educators who wished to work together and with Catskill Hudson AHEC to promote the profession of nursing in New York State.  Since then, Catskill Hudson AHEC’s Nursing Summit has attracted all levels of the nursing profession, as well as healthcare professionals, health professions educators, and health professions students by providing an educational forum to explore topics of relevance and critical issues facing nursing and healthcare professionals today and supporting the continued development of and within the nursing profession.  The Nursing Summit has also provided invaluable networking opportunities for attendees.

Over the years, Nursing Summit topics have included:

• Nursing in and Through a Pandemic: A Time to Heal
• The Response to the Nursing Profession to the Challenge of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES): Emerging Intervention Strategies
• Cultivating Health Communities: The Role of the Nurse in Population Health
• The Role of the Nurse in Shaping the Future of Healthcare: Progressing Toward the Triple Aim
• Transformational Leadership in a New Healthcare Environment
• Improving Healthcare to LGBT Individuals and Families: Awareness to Action 
• Ethics
• Mock Trial and Beyond (a live demonstration of healthcare litigation and more)
• Use of Technology for Teaching and Staff Development
• Developing Staff Excellence
• Online Curriculum Development
• Nurse Preceptor Development
• The Artistry of Nurse Management
• Bringing Together Leaders in Nursing Practice and Nursing Education

Health Professions Seminars – Catskill Hudson AHEC 
In 2016, Catskill Hudson AHEC introduced Health Professions Seminars; a continuing education series for Health Providers.  These annual educational forums will incorporate highly relevant topics surrounding the health professions with instruction by experts in the field. 

For more information about these programs, please visit our Continuing Education Programs section.

If you would like to be added to our mailing list to receive information about future continuing education programs, please email your request to Carolyn Steele at csteele@chahec.org or call our staff at (845) 883-7260.