LaGuardia Community College and Lehman College are working together toward the expansion of a National Council Licensure Examination program to reduce nursing shortages in New York City.

Expanding the NCLE program is an excellent way to promote inclusivity in the health care industry, giving frontline employees a well-deserved break.

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses conducted a survey 18 months into the pandemic, with 92% of employees stating staff shortages may trigger them to leave the workforce earlier than expected, according to the Queens Chronicle.

The City Department of Small Business Services will aid nursing gaps as three in 10 healthcare workers across the United States contemplate resignation. The COVID-19 pandemic is causing nurses to leave their careers behind after two years of catastrophe.

“Nurses leaving the profession will bring our healthcare system to its knees,” ACCN president-elect Amanda Bettencourt said. “This is the last thing we want to happen.”

LaGuardia Community College will launch an 8-month NCLEX-RN Preparation for Trained Nurses, available to 40 participants starting May 2. A part-time evening initiative will be added to promote leisure, the Queens Chronicle reported.

Lehman College is launching a 5-month full-time NCLEX-RN English for Speakers of Other languages course, starting May 24, with a 25-person limit. A similar NCLEX training program will begin Aug 1, according to an SBS spokesman.

Frontline employees express how sleepless nights and long work hours are negatively impacting their mental health after the public health crisis swept the nation by surprise.

Adapting to ever-changing safety protocols, nurses are tired of the constant back and forth regarding masks, visitation precautions and COVID-19 testing. The exhaustion health care workers endure is extremely debilitating, on top of a prevailing fear of contracting the virus and spreading it to loved ones.

The public fails to realize how stress on nursing staff can affect a patient’s safety if a nurse isn’t well equipped to fulfill the duties of their job description. City University of New York and the SBS are here to ease heavy workloads for health care workers struggling with staff shortages by recruiting international workers.

Efforts to expand the NCLE program are a great opportunity for immigrant workers to practice medicine in the United States. Qualified foreign nurses in New York can step in and obtain a job that pays an average of 100,000 a year, Glassdoor reported.

Regardless of vaccine availability, individuals are still at risk for severe infection and even death. The health care system needs a backup if it plans on effectively combating the pandemic and other unforeseen circumstances in the future.

Health care workers grapple with the horrifying realities on a day-to-day basis, causing burned out, registered nurses to leave their profession in droves. However, miracles are attainable through CUNY and SBS by way of the NCLEX training program.