Arizona College of Nursing Moves Closer to East Hartford Opening Amidst Lawsuit Against Stone Academy, Documented Need for Significantly More Nurses in CT

The Connecticut Department of Public Health website lists the Arizona College of Nursing atop its list of Baccalaureate Nursing Education (4 Years) higher education institutions in Connecticut. 

That’s most likely because, as the Hartford Business Journal reported back in January, “the Connecticut Board of Examiners for Nursing (BOEN) and Arizona College of Nursing (ACN) have entered into an agreement that allows the school to continue its plan to open an East Hartford campus.”

That campus, however, is not yet accepting students.

BOEN members had raised concerns about a voluntary probation consent agreement Arizona College signed with the Arizona State Board of Nursing. The consent agreement, HBJ reported, outlined staffing issues and shortages that took place at the nursing school’s Tempe, Arizona campus in 2021 that impacted classes. The school said those issues have since been addressed.

The BOEN agreement states the parties “desire to avoid litigation,” and that the program’s ‘application materials comply with the application DPH regulations,’” HBJ reported.  The BOEN voted 4-0 in favor of the agreement, with five members recusing themselves, HBJ indicated, including in its reporting a comment from Timothy Larson, Director of the state Office of Higher Education, who indicated that his office “did its due diligence and followed the statutory requirements when approving the Arizona School of Nursing’s application and looks forward to working with the school to ensure that students are prepared for this very important field.”

The Arizona College of Nursing, based in Arizona, has 16 campuses across the county and is aiming to open in East Hartford for student enrollment this fall, at 99 East River Drive, just minutes from Goodwin University, home of a longstanding nursing program. 

The website of the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools, a U.S. Department of Education-recognized national accrediting agency, indicates that the East Hartford campus of Arizona College of Nursing received accreditation in March, and like the other campuses, is accredited through February 2027. It will be the Arizona college’s first physical location in New England – but there is already a relationship in place with another Connecticut university. 

The Post University (Bridgeport) website promotes  “an Articulation with Arizona College of Nursing to guarantee your credits will transfer.”  Post touts “career-relevant programs available on campus and online,” providing students a way to “pursue your degree on your schedule, on your terms. You get the education you want and the skills you need, all while fulfilling your responsibilities on the job and at home.”

This past week, Hartford Healthcare and Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU) announced a new partnership focused on nursing. Willimantic-based ECSU is launching a bachelor of science in nursing program this fall. There are also plans to construct a new simulation lab facility at Windham Hospital, which is in Willimantic and part of Hartford HealthCare’s network, to help train students.

Rocco Orlando, chief academic officer for HHC, emphasized the significance of the collaboration, stating, "This is a true joint venture. This is the only nursing program we're supporting from the ground up... Eastern Connecticut is the least populous part of the state. The nursing shortage is most profound there." Eastern's Bachelor of Science in Nursing program is set to commence in the fall of 2023, with ongoing admissions allowing students to apply for the upcoming semester.

Eastern’s nursing program received a $1.2 million grant from the CT Health Horizons initiative, a $35-million state effort aimed at addressing the nursing shortage in Connecticut. In addition to supporting a portion of the Windham Hospital buildout, the grant will fund three new faculty positions at Eastern and establish three clinical skills labs on campus, along with the cutting-edge simulation facility.

Connecticut currently experiences a nursing deficit of 33%, with 1,000 positions going unfilled each year, according to data from CT Health Horizons, Hartford Healthcare pointed out. Furthermore, due to a lack of faculty and clinical placements, the state's nursing programs can currently accept only 25% of qualified students.

That Connecticut needs more nurses does not appear to be in doubt, a fact exacerbated first by the pandemic, and more recently by the debacle that is the Stone Academy. Attorney General William Tong last week sued Stone Academy alleging numerous violations of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act following the abrupt closure of the for-profit nursing school, leaving students with uncertain futures.

“Stone Academy promised hands-on training from industry leaders, and an education that would position students to become Licensed Practical Nurses in less than two years. These were lies. This is textbook consumer deception—our evidence is unassailable, and we will get justice for Stone’s students,” said Attorney General Tong.

Stone offered day and evening practical nursing programs at locations in East Hartford, Waterbury and West Haven.  The Attorney General’s Office pointed out that “Stone aggressively advertised—targeting women and prominently featuring women of color-- on billboards, via social media, and on radio, television and internet advertisements, promising students ‘hands on instruction from a dedicated staff.’ Stone claimed their practical nursing program would ‘prepare and assist students in acquiring the basic knowledge and skills necessary to be hired into an entry-level position as a Licensed Practical Nurse’ in less than two years.

Stone utterly failed to provide the education and training it promised, the Attorney General’s office pointed out, underscoring that “Stone’s multiple, blatant failures and regulatory violations created a situation that caused many of its graduates to be ineligible to sit for the NCLEX licensing exam and obtain licensure in the State of Connecticut, thus violating one of Stone’s most important promises.”

The turmoil and uncertainty comes against a backdrop of significant need for nurses in Connecticut.

In a Strategic Plan developed by the Governor’s Workforce Council in 2020, the Council stated that “A shortage of qualified Registered Nurses (RNs) exists in Connecticut,” adding that “Without factoring in nurses that decide to leave the profession for reasons other than retirement (relocation, career change, death or illness, etc.) the need for new RNs will be approximately 3,000 per year.”  However, the Council points out, “the number of new nursing school graduates from Connecticut colleges and universities is approximately 1,900 per year.”

The Council also noted that 52% of the employed RNs in Connecticut are over the age of 50, and “a number of them will likely retire in the coming 10 years,” warning, somewhat ominously, that “Connecticut schools rejected 7,000 qualified nursing school candidates due to a lack of educational capacity” in the previous year, explaining that “the capacity constraints are the result of two factors - lack of faculty and lack of available clinical sites offering necessary clinical hours of onsite experience.” 

Updated data, highlighted at a statewide conference earlier this year led by the Connecticut Center for Nursing Workforce indicated that the ages of RNs is nearly equally distributed in Connecticut – 46% are age 50 or older, 54% are under age 50.  Of the full-tine RNs who were under 50 years old, the age group of 30 years and younger was the smallest, at 23%.  A total of 41% were age 30-39 and 37% were age 40-49.