Wilmington, N.C. - Taking action to address the acute shortage of nurses in the state, the University of North Carolina Wilmington School of Nursing is accepting and graduating more nursing students, including its first class of prelicensure nurses to graduate in December.
On Dec. 15, 31 new nurses will leave UNC Wilmington to fill critically needed nursing positions. Twenty-five of the graduates are staying in North Carolina, going to nursing jobs at New Hanover Regional Medical Center, UNC Hospitals, Carolinas Medical Center, Duke University Medical Center, Wake Med and other health care facilities in the state. Others have accepted jobs out of state. Every student had accepted a job or received job offers prior to graduation.
“We are taking our responsibility to this state very seriously in addressing the nursing shortage and providing as many highly qualified new nurses as we possibly can,” said Virginia Adams, dean of the UNC Wilmington School of Nursing. “We will soon break ground on a new building for our program, which will give us the facilities to educate even more nurses once it is completed.
In order to make a nursing education available to more students, the school of nursing began two years ago to accept a spring class of students into the program. Prior to that, all students began the program in the fall. The 31 December graduates are the first students admitted in the spring to complete the program.
Since 2003, the UNCW School of Nursing has increased the number of students enrolled in its program by 66.7 percent, graduating nearly 50 more nurses each year, most of whom fill open health care positions in North Carolina.
“The majority of our nursing graduates stay in the state to take jobs and practice nursing,” said Deborah Pollard, UNCW nursing professor and coordinator of the prelicensure program. “This is a great time to pursue a career in nursing. There are many jobs available and unlimited opportunities for qualified, dedicated nurses.”
In a report issued in 2004, the Task Force on the North Carolina Nursing Workforce Report quoted long-range forecasts of registered nurse supply and demand in the state that predicted a shortage of anywhere from 9,000 nurses in 2015 to almost 18,000 nurses by 2020. The North Carolina population is continuing to grow, as is the percentage of the population that is over age 65, which is putting pressure on the health care system. In addition, nearly half of all nurses in the state are over age 45, which signals a wave of retirements in the coming years.
"The recent UNC Tomorrow report from the University of North Carolina's General Administration emphasizes the need to graduate more new nurses to address the health care needs of the citizens of our state, especially the older population,” said Adams. “UNC Wilmington is addressing that goal.”
Media contacts:
Virginia Adams, dean, UNCW School of Nursing, 910.962.7410
Dana Fischetti, manager of news and media relations, 910.962.7259
