Officials with the University of South Dakota were expected this week to request permission to offer a four-year bachelor’s degree in nursing, according to the Argus Leader.
The request is to be directed to the university system’s Board of Regents and is one of the latest signals indicating how rapidly the opportunity for nursing jobs will continue growing. Two advocacy groups, the American Health Care Association and the American Hospital Association, indicated in 2008 that nursing shortages in long-term facilities and hospitals will be more than 8 percent.
“There is such a demand for nursing,” executive director Gloria Damgaard with the South Dakota Board of Nursing told the publication. “We’re seeing a lot of new or expanding programs. And we need them.”
The two advocacy groups also forecast that the nursing shortfall will increase to equal 260,000 full-time by 2025.
The Rapid City Journal reports South Dakota officials are putting effort into keeping freshly graduated students in state. The Governor’s Office of Economic Development is looking to keep people with expertise in healthcare and engineering in the name of enhancing long statewide long-term development.