ALBANY, NY (WIVT/WBGH) – Yesterday, State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky (SD-11) and Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo (AD-123) announced the passing of a bill that is expected to help address New York State’s nursing shortage.

The legislation will allow nursing programs to expand their clinical simulation programs to up to one-third of total clinical training.

This will expand access to hands-on clinical education and allow nursing programs to be more flexible.

Simulation-based learning experiences expose students to lifelike clinical environments, are nationally tested, and have already been adopted by nursing education programs in dozens of states.

According to Lupardo, New York State is projected to face a shortage of almost 40,000 nurses by 2030. This new legislation is expected to help.

It has passed both Houses and the State Legislature, now the bill awaits action by Governor Hochul.

The bill will go into effect as early as Spring 2023 if signed by June 2023.

Lupardo said, “Now that our nursing simulation bill has passed through both Houses, I’m looking forward to the Governor signing it into law. I’d like to thank Senator Stavisky, CICU, the Chancellors of both the SUNY and CUNY systems, SED, and my colleagues for pushing this over the finish line. Allowing up to one-third of clinical training to be simulation-based will not only help address our nursing shortage, it will also expose students to a valuable, hands-on learning experience. I have witnessed these trainings first-hand at Binghamton University’s Decker College of Nursing and seen how realistic these state-of-the-art simulations can be.”