By Sami Edge via OregonLive
placement system. Nurse educators are also looking to legislators for policy changes that could fix kinks in the workforce pipeline for a critical state industry. “If we can get incentives to clinical partners, and if there’s a way for the state to help fund nurs- ing educator’s salaries and program administrators, that would really help with two of our prob- lems,” Walker said. LIMITED CAPACITY
Oregon has 17 associate degree programs for students who want to become registered nurses, as well as six public and private bachelor’s degree programs and another eight community college programs for licensed practical nurses, who have less schooling than a registered nurse.
In 2020, 409 students graduated from practical nursing programs, 606 students from associate degree nursing programs and another 929 students with a bachelor’s degree in nursing, said Ben Tate, director of the Oregon Longitudinal Data Collaborative. Still, the data collaborative estimated that Oregon needed more than 1,000 additional graduates to meet workforce needs that year, according to a draft summary of its upcoming report. Schools have enough applicants to more than double their capacity. Oregon’s nursing schools received more than 6,000 applications in 2020, but accepted less than a quarter of them, the draft summary says. Clackamas Community College sometimes gets more than 300 applicants for an average of 30 open spots, Walker said. “To turn down that many potential nurses is a very hard thing to do,” she said. Jennifer Limones, 36, is in her second year of the Clackamas nursing program and is planning to enter the profession full-time this summer. She spent several years working and taking 16
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