U-NEWS REPORTED AND EDITED BY JOURNALISM STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF
CENTRAL FLORIDA
Schools must turn away qualified would-be nurses
Despite a caregiver shortage, faculty and space limits at UCF and elsewhere
leave applicants -- and us -- out of luck.
Mary Knowles Special to the
Sentinel
March 1, 2007
Becoming a nurse takes more than a caring
personality and a knack for science. At the University of Central Florida and
other Florida universities, it means beating out hundreds of other qualified
candidates for entrance to nursing school.
Nearly 500 students applied
for 120 seats in the UCF School of Nursing's fall entering class. That compares
with 301 applications for 90 seats in 2000, admissions officials say. Branch
campuses at Daytona Beach and Cocoa Beach have about the same selectivity
rate.
As Florida's aging population fuels a nursing shortage, nursing
advocates say UCF and other universities are turning away qualified applicants
because of faculty and space limitations.
Florida will face an average
annual shortfall of nearly 9,800 nurses through 2014, according to a report
released in January by the Florida Nursing Center, which tracks nursing
shortages. A 2006 survey by the Council on Collegiate Education for Nursing
found that more than 1,900 qualified applicants were turned away from the chance
of getting bachelor's degrees in nursing statewide. That was after eight new
nursing programs brought 600 more seats to the state in 2005.
"I was
astonished at how many applicants were being turned away because there's not
enough space," said Sandra Schoenfisch, acting director of the Florida
Department of Health's Office of Public Health Nursing.
What's more,
there aren't enough faculty members, nursing advocates say. It's challenging to
find nurses who are willing to take pay cuts to become educators, according to
Willa Fuller, associate executive director of the Florida Nurses
Association.
"A lot of the faculty that have master's and doctorates are
making less than the students they're turning out," Fuller said. "They don't
make salaries that are commensurate with the education they're required to
have."
Average salaries for nursing faculty range from $41,500 to $56,500
a year, according to the Florida Board of Nursing.
UCF School of Nursing
officials say they're trying to ease the faculty shortage with the Nurse
Educator track, a graduate program created in 2005 to prepare nurses for
teaching positions. "Our approach is to produce more teachers," said Linda
Hennig, the track's director.
But until that happens, the School of
Nursing won't increase the number of students, said admissions adviser Patricia
Lafferty. The last time that number was raised was in fall 2004.
Students
are evaluated for admission solely on grade point average and background checks.
GPAs are based on the first two years of UCF classes. They must meet a 3.0
minimum, but are edging closer to 3.5.
The requirements are tough for a
reason, Lafferty said. "We don't have the capacity or resources to add more
students."
Resources include classrooms, mannequins and other equipment
and clinical rotations in hospitals so students can practice skills. A move to
the Lake Nona Health Sciences Campus near Orlando International Airport could
ease the classroom demands, but that's a few years off.
Last fall, UCF
began reserving the first nursing seats for students who have spent all or most
of their college careers at UCF, with 30 or fewer credits from another
institution.
More students are applying because they like the wealth of
available jobs and the options a nursing career can provide, said Deanne Fenton,
23, a nursing major and president of the senior class of the Student Nurses
Association.
"If you want to have a family, you have the good pay and you
have the flexible schedule" that nursing provides, Fenton said.
But many
students with good grades won't get to pursue their nursing aspirations, and
that spells trouble for Florida, said Fuller of the Florida Nurses
Association.
"There's just no place to fit them," Fuller
said.
"The shortage is only going to get worse if we don't find
solutions."
