Case study: Almost half of FL nursing applicants rejected

The nursing shortage is being felt in Florida just as much as in other states. But like other states, the nursing schools there aren't coming close to meeting the demand. In fact, a new study finds that 44 percent of qualified applicants to Florida nursing schools were turned away outright during the 2007-08 academic year.

According to the Florida Center for Nursing, while Florida nursing schools enrolled 14,644 new students, 12,563 qualified applicants were rejected. That number almost equals the state's volume of unfilled nursing positions. The rejections come despite major growth in the state's programs, which produced 17.4 percent more graduates in 2008 than 2007.

The rejections were largely due to a lack of clinical sites for nurse training, lack of funds to add nursing school faculty and not enough qualified applicants for unfilled faculty slots.

The Florida Center projects that the shortage of nurses in Florida will grow to 18,419 by 2010 and 52,209 by 2020 if no steps are taken to halt the trend.

To learn more about the study:
- read this Orlando Business Journal article

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