by Krystal Zaragoza
Daily Lobo
UNM is among 15 schools in New Mexico that will receive money from the state to increase the number of students interested in nursing programs and aid the current shortage of nurses.
Through the Commission on Higher Education, UNM will receive $303,000 from the state for a program that will help two-year nursing students at community colleges continue their educations toward bachelor and masters degrees.
Sandra Ferketich, dean of the UNM College of Nursing, said the money from the commission will be used for a program called On the Ground Partnership. The partnership will be with San Juan Community College.
Ferketich said the program would not only increase the number of nurses, but also increase the number of leaders and educators for future nurses.
In May 2003, she said, the UNM College of Nursing graduated about 100 students. "We've been gradually going up," Ferketich said. "We were admitting 32 students per semester for a total of 64 per year. Then we went to the legislature... (which) gave us some money and over the next year instead of admitting 64 we admitted 96."
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She also said that her projection for the five-year period from 2001-06 is around 697 graduating students. New Mexico, however, is well behind the national average.
"One of the things about New Mexico is that we have a lower ratio of nurses to a 100,000 (person) population than many other states," Ferketich said. "We are approximately at 580 nurses per 100,000 population and many of the states, especially on the East Coast and Northeast have almost double that."
UNM graduate nursing students enrolled in Pathophysiology for Advanced Practice Nursing this summer said there are a variety of reasons for the current shortage.
Student Andrea Wall, a registered nurse first assistant, said that one of many reasons for the shortage is that student nurses often "get burnt out. It's a lot of responsibility. We're underpaid and understaffed."
The rest of the students agreed with Wall, adding that women's issues, job retention and fear of responsibility for patients also contribute to the problem.
In addition to the $303,000, the University is also applying for three federal grants. The grants will be used for outreach to the state, outreach through a nursing clinic in the Griegos Community Center and support of the college's Ph.D. program. The grants, which School of Medicine Dean Paul Roth is awaiting word on, would bring about $2 million into UNM.
The graduate students suggested that stability and flexibility were among the reasons to be a nurse.
"Nurses aren't just hospital nurses anymore," said student Lauri Montanez, a critical care nurse at Presbyterian hospital. "They've diversified into the community. They've diversified into advanced practice. It's not just taking care of patients in a hospital."
Ferketich said she has a lot of faith in the programs that the college will soon be participating in.
"I am very pleased that the state and the commission have really been trying to support nursing," she said. "We are very short on funds in this state and they are giving funds to nursing."
