Within five years, Louisiana will have at least 7,000 fewer nurse practitioners than it needs to care for an aging and needier patient base, says Tina Holland, president of Our Lady of the Lake College.
Louisiana isn’t alone. There’s a shortage of nurses nationwide, particularly advanced practice professionals such as nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists, who are able to help provide primary care in place of physicians. Still, that doesn’t make it any easier for local providers and teaching institutions to deal with the situation.
“We’ve got to educate our nurses differently, and we’ve got to educate more of them,” said Holland, who spoke to the Rotary Club of Baton Rouge today at its weekly luncheon.
Part of the reason for the shortage in the field is that colleges don’t have the capacity—both physical space and sufficient faculty—to educate more students. Some 75,000 qualified applicants nationwide were turned away from nursing schools last year because the schools didn’t have spots for them, Holland said.
“There is a tremendous need for faculty,” Holland said. “But the competition for faculty is especially fierce because doctorate candidates can earn 30% more in the clinical setting than in a teaching institution.”
To address the situation, OLOL is trying to work more collaboratively with existing practitioners and is developing new educational partnerships and new ways of teaching. The college is also working to augment the clinical setting for students. With the help of federal grant funding, for instance, the college developed a simulated hospital setting, where students can train on robotic dummies.
—Stephanie Riegel
