HARI: Rhody nursing enrollment is soaring

CRANSTON – Since 1998, first-year enrollment at Rhode Island’s schools of nursing has increased 93.5 percent, according to the Hospital Association of Rhode Island. The number of nurse graduates has grown nearly 50 percent in that time.

While the current economic climate has alleviated some of the current health care workforce shortages, concern remains that shortages will persist in the coming years, according to HARI.

The R.I. Department of Labor predicts health care organizations in our state will hire 440 nurses each year between 2008 and 2018.

HARI’s Health Partnership Council has worked with the Center for Health Professionals to create a common orientation system to unify the learning process prior to clinical placement.

A recent survey of student nurses utilizing the common orientation revealed that 76 percent plan to continue their nursing education within two years of graduation. •