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Schools Lack Spots For Nurses
Aug 16, 12:07 PM
Hartford Courant
By MONICA POLANCO
COURANT STAFF WRITER
NEW BRITAIN — Mary Jane Williams, a member of the Connecticut Nurses Association, hears the same complaint from potential nursing students across the state.
“They are unable to secure a seat in a program in the state of Connecticut,” said Williams, who also serves as chairwoman of the University of Hartford’s nursing department and is a professor there.
Williams, an advocate for more nursing programs, is awaiting the fate of a proposed $185,000 federal grant for the Connecticut State University System’s nursing programs.
On Friday, during a news conference at Central Connecticut State University, U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, D-5th District, said he thinks the U.S. House of Representatives will approve the measure when it votes this fall.
If the expenditure is approved, Murphy said, he hopes it will spur federal and state leaders and the private sector to work together to combat Connecticut’s nursing shortage.
The shortage, a national problem, has been caused by several factors, including the fact that in the early ’90s, during a lull within the industry, hospitals laid off staff members and reduced nursing programs.
Colleges across Connecticut have added nursing programs, but Williams said more are needed.
Last year, 1,100 qualified nursing applicants were turned away from programs across the state because there weren’t enough seats, Williams said. Nationally, that figure was 40,000.
Murphy estimated that over the next eight years, health care institutions across the country will need 1 million new nurses.
Williams, whose organization seeks to recruit nurses, would like to see the state dedicate $100 million over the next 10 years for programs to train nurses and nursing teachers.
Changes, she said, are long overdue.
“If we intend to uphold our mandate to protect the health of the public … we must move nurses along the continuum,” she said.
