Many Florida nursing applicants turned away

[cougarnurse]

Interesting story: Many Fla. nursing applicants rejected - Orlando Business Journal:

Nursing is one of the few professions in great demand in Florida, but a new study has found that 44 percent of qualified applicants to Florida nursing schools were turned away in the 2007-2008 academic year.

The Florida Center for Nursing reports that the 12,563 qualified applicants who were rejected by Florida nursing schools nearly equals the state’s shortage of nursing positions the nonprofit group estimates for this year. Florida nursing schools enrolled 14,644 new students in the last academic year.

The most common reasons nursing school administrators cited for rejecting qualified applicants were not enough clinical sites for nurse training, lack of funds to add faculty and not enough qualified applicants for vacant faculty positions.

Despite the difficulty in accommodating new students, Florida’s nursing programs have experienced growth. Nursing graduates increased 17.4 percent to 11,070 in 2008, up from 9,433 in 2007. Florida nursing schools had 27,187 enrollees on Sept. 30, up 9 percent from 24,945 enrollees on Sept. 30, 2007.

The majority of that growth was in two-year associate degree in nursing programs. The more advanced programs, which are needed for nurse administrators and educators, were nearly stagnant in graduates and enrollment, FCN said.

“Evidence indicates that this growth may not be sustainable,” the FCN study stated. “The number of full-time faculty members in ADN programs actually decreased during this time, and the number of students per full-time faculty member increased by three. At the same time, full-time faculty vacancy rates were unchanged and part-time faculty hires increased dramatically – suggesting that the economic downturn and continued pressure to expand have resulted in an increased reliance on part-time faculty.”

The FCN warned that the shortage of nurses in Florida would grow to 18,419 by 2010 and 52,209 by 2020 if nothing is done to resolve the problem, which is spurred by long-time nurses retiring and the state’s baby boomer population growing older.

[FLMomof5]

But where does it address the fact that there are Graduate Nurses that can't get jobs?!?!?!

[cougarnurse]

No idea! 'Restructuring' is going on here, too. One hospital near the one I worked at was closing d/t debt. A buyer was found, but many nurses went looking for new jobs. Another hospital even closer is planning a new facility. Wonder if that will happen there, too.