Increase in nursing school attendees among national shortage

ENTERPRISE, Ala. (WTVY) - Enrollment for Enterprise State Community Colleges nursing school nearly doubled since last year among a national nursing shortage.

52% of nurses are considering leaving their current position according to last year’s survey from the American Nurses Foundation. The survey shows the blame is due primarily to staffing issues, work impacting their health and well-being, and inability to quality care.

The Covid pandemic greatly pushed these reasons. Professors at Enterprise State Community College are hopeful about the future.

This fall they have 31 students instead of 17. After experiencing Covid firsthand, some of these students are motivated to take challenges head-on.

”I actually worked through covid at a hospital,” Kaylee Baker, a first-year nursing student, said. “And yes, we did have a lot of people leave, but we still have a lot of people that still worked even though there was a pandemic. Covid is always going to be around so it’s just like the flu,” she added. “So, people will leave, but the strong people will stay.”

There was expected to be a surplus of nurses between 2023 and 2035 until the Covid pandemic changed the trend according to the Health Resources and Services Administration. They predict the supply of nurses will not exceed demand until 2035.

Subscribe to our News 4 newsletter and receive the latest local news and weather straight to your email every morning. Get instant notifications on top stories from News 4 by downloading our mobile apps.

Copyright 2023 WTVY. All rights reserved.