PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS ESSENTIAL TO ADDRESS NURSING SHORTAGE

THERE IS NO DENYING that the need for healthcare workers has never been greater. Recent reports by the Florida Hospital Association, the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida, and the Florida Healthcare Association, show that the Sunshine State is projected to be short 59,100 nurses by 2035.

Seminole State is actively engaged with local medical centers and practices, education institutions, business leaders and health care executives to expand nursing program opportunities and increase the number of students enrolled.

Seminole State has had a strong relationship with AdventHealth, HCA Healthcare and Orlando Health for decades, each providing resources to assist with educational program expansion. A recent piece to one of these partnerships is Orlando Health.

In Spring 2022, the first group of senior nursing students began receiving hands-on learning in Orlando Health South Seminole Hospital’s Dedicated Education Unit (DEU). Through this project, students worked alongside experienced nurses in South Seminole’s progressive care unit, a step below the intensive care unit, and shadowed in other departments of the hospital to diversify their experience. The project allows students to gain valuable skills leading to employment after graduation. The hospital expects to have 24 nursing students participate in the project each year, providing advanced training in skills such as, advanced cardiac life support, phlebotomy and electrocardiogram interpretation.

physical therapy, emergency medical technology, health services administration, health sciences, information technology, business, construction, hospitality and more.

Seminole State is also an Orlando Health Preferred Education Program (PEP) partner which allows full-time and part-time Orlando Health employees to pursue an associate degree, bachelor’s degree or technical certificate with Orlando Health paying 100% of tuition and books directly to the College on their behalf. The expanded PEP offers an opportunity for team members to pursue programs including nursing, diagnostic medical sonography, respiratory care,

Additionally, Seminole State’s nursing program is supported financially and programmatically by AdventHealth and HCA Healthcare. A similar partnership, a DEU project, was developed with AdventHealth Winter Park Hospital and launched in Fall 2022. This opportunity is expected to help reduce the nursing shortage in Central Florida while producing skilled and workforce-ready nurses. However, in order to continue to successfully close the nursing shortage gap, increased and sustainable funding from the state and private partners is needed.

Seminole State College’s nursing program, part of the Ann Wiggins Moore Center for Nursing and

Healthcare Professionals, is consistently ranked as one of the best in the nation (according to first-time pass rates on the NCLEX). Based at the Altamonte Springs Campus, the program’s facilities feature state-of-the-art healthcare labs and high-tech patient simulators. The nursing program offers an Associate in Science (A.S.) degree in Nursing (RN) and an RN-to-BSN Online (Bachelor of Science in Nursing). The RN-to-BSN program launched in 2018 and offers students flexibility to work and go to school at the same time, and answers the health care industry’s call for nurses with advanced training, providing graduates with high-growth, high-paying jobs.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON SEMINOLE STATE COLLEGE’S NURSING PROGRAMS, VISIT SEMINOLESTATE.EDU/NURSING