Nurses are in high demand

WCPO spoke with faculty and students at UC College of Nursing about the education pipeline needed to prepare more nurses to meet a growing demand.

On its website, the American Association of College of Nurses reports the nation is projected to experience a shortage of Registered Nurses (RNs) that is expected to intensify as Baby Boomers age and the need for health care grows.

As hospitals across the country face a national nursing shortage, schools like UC are working to meet the demand.

"The pandemic just kind of heightened what we already have projected, which was the increasing in retirement of the nurses in the workforce," said Dr. Donna Green, associate dean of undergraduate and prelicensure programs at UC College of Nursing, during an interview with WCPO.

Green said she received more than $193,000 in grant money for the UC N.E.X.T: Nursing Education Expansion through Experiential Training from the Ohio Board of Nursing.

Students graduating from UC Nursing have a placement rate near 100%.

"I think one of the most important things is that the new graduates understand that there are options out there, they can really find where they feel that they fit best," said Dr. Lindsay Davis, assistant dean of APRN Curriculum at UC College of Nursing, during an interview with WCPO.

UC College of Nursing has strong relationships with nurses at healthcare operations across Greater Cincinnati.  TriHealth recently held a hiring blitz to fill nursing positions at its facilities. It is looking to fill nurses at all experience levels, according to WCPO.

UC nursing student Thomas Snyder is enrolled in an 18-month accelerated Master's of Nursing program. He shared his journey into nursing with WCPO.  A former Army flight critical care paramedic, Snyder comes from a family deeply rooted in health care.

"I've flown with nurses for 17 years now, and my mother was a nurse, my grandmother was a nurse for 45 years, so it was either that or construction," Snyder told WCPO.

View the full story on WCPO’s website.

Featured top image of UC nursing student Thomas Snyder in a College of Nursing Simulation Lab. Photo provided.