TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — FSU College of Nursing is now admitting students every spring, summer and fall semester. That’s tripling their intake in students. They will go from 70 students to 144 each semester. The state legislature approved for 1.8 million dollars in reoccurring funds to help with this expansion.
Assistant Dean of College of Nursing Marsha Hartline explains some of the changes they’ve made.
“We have changed some things such as admission GPA. Our overall minimum GPA for the college of nursing is now 3.0 which is a little bit of a change for us. And then also the minimum grade requirement on the list of prerequisites," said Marsha Hartline.
Whereas FSU’s previous GPA requirement was a 3.4. This will allow for more students to access the program and help with the nursing shortage.
However, hospitals aren’t the only ones who are in need of help.
Florida Healthcare Association Communications Director, Kristen Knapp, shared how senior facilities have suffered from nursing shortages as well. Especially since covid due to seniors being more prone to illness versus the rest of the population.
“It’s evident that we have a growing senior population and they’ve got needs that have to be met and we’re going to have to find a way to fill those needs by getting more nurses into the profession," said Kristen Knapp.
Nurse Katoria Stewart has worked with a senior facility for over 20 years.
“People didn’t understand the gravity of what we were dealing with internally is because we were like the stepchild of the industry,” says Katoria Stewart.
She has met with surrounding colleges and even helped cultivate student clinical trials at senior centers back in 2021.
“But they don’t fully understand the clinical capabilities that can happen in this type of environment, so they tend to think— I’ll lose my skills I’ve been taught in school if I don’t go to the hospital, and I go to the nursing home and that’s not always the case,” said Stewart.
