Duke and Durham Tech Partner to Train Next Generation of Nurses

Effort to address nursing shortage is part of workforce development goal

Crystal Senter teaches a class at Durham Tech.
Duke University Health System Nursing Program Manager Crystal Senter teaches nursing students at Durham Technical Community College. Photo by Travis Stanley.

Longtime Duke nurse and Duke University Health System Nursing Program Manager Crystal Senter is driven by a desire to deliver patient care.

Last year, when she began teaching Durham Technical Community College nursing students, Senter found another calling. Whether mapping care plans with colorful whiteboard diagrams, leading lively class discussions about caring for mothers, infants, and patients facing mental illness, or sharing her own anecdotes, Senter treasures teaching tomorrow’s nurses.

“I just love the students,” Senter said. “When you see the light bulbs turn on when they’re answering questions, it’s a great feeling. That’s what you’re looking for.”

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Senter’s classes are part of a partnership between Duke University Health System, Duke Community Affairs and Durham Tech that addresses the nation’s shortage of trained nurses and supports college and career readiness through talent and workforce development.

By 2025, the U.S. will have 78,618 fewer nurses than it needs. North Carolina’s demand for nurses is expected to outpace supply by 13% by 2035. Exacerbating the problem is a shortage of nursing instructors.

“As a state, this shortage creates a lot of issues, especially when you go beyond our health system and think about everyone who utilizes nurses,” said Debra Clark Jones, Duke Health Associate Vice President for Community Health. “Working with Durham Tech allows us to not only address our own shortages, but to improve community health.”

Durham Tech graduate Callie Caviness said that the lessons taught by Duke's Crystal Senter have proven valuable in her role as a nurse at Atrium Health Pineville. Photo courtesy of Callie Caviness.

With more than 400 care locations in North Carolina, Duke saw strengthening its relationship with Durham Tech – which offers an associate degree in nursing – as a way to boost the state’s nursing talent pool.

As part of the partnership, launched last year as a pilot, Duke nursing educators, such as Senter, are teaching Durham Tech courses. Duke has also increased opportunities for Durham Tech students to learn through clinical rotations at Duke’s hospitals and clinics.

“This is a huge contribution that helps us increase the capacity of students coming into the classroom,” said Melissa Ockert, Durham Tech’s Dean for Health and Wellness.

With experience in various care facilities, from senior living centers to prisons, Callie Caviness, 37, took Senter’s class on caring for babies and new mothers and appreciated how Senter connected classroom lessons to caregiving scenarios.

“With her real-life experience, she could correlate things we were learning with how things go in a clinical setting, which helped a lot,” said Caviness, who graduated from Durham Tech in May and is a nurse at Atrium Health Pineville.

While Senter understands the importance of closing nursing’s talent gap, her joy from helping students become fellow nurses is its own reward.

“At the end of the class, they were still trying to call me Mrs. Senter,” she said. “I was like ‘No, we’re peers. Call me Crystal.’”

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