We really need nurses. How Louisville is stepping up its training
Code blue!” a University of Louisville nursing student calls out, prompting one of her peers to start doing chest compressions on their patient, a mannequin that just went into cardiac arrest.
They’re in a lab at U of L’s health sciences campus downtown, doing a “death and dying simulation” that mimics a heart attack scenario.
Louisville’s School of Nursing and similar programs across the commonwealth and the country are tasked with training the next generation of nurses — and hospitals are likely to need as many graduates as they can provide in the coming years.
“We have a huge nursing shortage in this country, and it’s only going to get worse,” said Sonya Hardin, the dean of U of L’s nursing school.
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing says about 1.1 million job openings for nurses are anticipated by 2024, but enrollment at nursing schools isn’t growing fast enough to meet the expected demand.
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The association’s website says several factors are contributing to the shortage, including:
- A sizable portion of the nursing workforce is getting close to retirement age.
- The number of older adults in America is rising, which means the need for certain health care services will, too.
- Insufficient staffing at work is increasing nurses’ stress levels and is affecting their job satisfaction, prompting many of them to exit the profession entirely.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts employment for registered nurses will grow by about 438,000 jobs from 2016 to 2026, a 15 percent increase.
As baby boomers retire over the next five to 10 years, Hardin said, today’s nursing students will help fill those vacancies.
“I don’t know of one single student that doesn’t have a job, which is kind of cool,” she said of the students who are graduating from U of L in December.
U of L’s nursing school has expanded over the past several years, and it now accepts 100 undergraduate students per semester instead of just 60. Hardin, who joined the university in August, eventually wants to double enrollment to 200 students.
Hardin also wants to bring more men on board. About 15 percent of U of L’s nursing students are men, but she wants to boost that figure to 20 percent.
Increasing enrollment isn’t as easy as just deciding to accept more applicants, though.
The association reports U.S. nursing schools turned away more than 64,000 qualified applicants for baccalaureate and graduate programs in 2016 because they didn’t have enough resources — faculty members, clinical sites and classroom space. Budget constraints were also an issue…. (Readmore)