Higher education seeks $12 million for nursing schools

With Nevada's nursing schools turning away almost as many applicants as students they graduate each year, the state's higher education system wants funds to double its nursing school capacity.

The 2001 Nevada Legislature asked the University and Community College System of Nevada to develop plans for doubled enrollment, and the nursing schools now have a plan. But the governor's budget has no money to pay for more students and faculty.

The state's seven nursing schools want to increase capacity by introducing year-round schools, according to Dr. Jane Nichols, UCCSN chancellor.

Nichols said Monday that startup costs for expanding the program to year-round operation would be about $12 million, prompting Assembly Health and Human Services Committee Chairwoman Ellen Koivisto, D-Las Vegas, to question where the money will come from.

"We've got new hospitals opening," Koivisto added. "How are we going to staff them?"

While Nevada schools offer seven nursing programs throughout the state, California has 157 programs, said Doreen Begley, nursing executive of the Nursing Institute of Nevada.

Nevada graduates about 264 nurses each year, but rejected 255 qualified applicants last year because there's not enough space in the schools. Begley said if those students go to nursing schools in other state, there's a 90 percent chance they'll work there.

Nevada maintains the worst ratio of nurses to population in the country, with 520 nurses per 100,000 people in the state. The national average is 782 nurses for each 100,000 people.

With a growing number of elderly people in the state's population, coupled with an aging nursing population, the state will soon face a severe nursing shortage, nursing advocates told legislators.

Lisa Black, executive director of the Nevada Nurses Association, said another key component is retaining the nurses that hospitals already employ.

Black said workplace stress is one of the main factors driving people away from nursing.

"We must repair the rifts in the system," Black said.