Pensacola and its neighboring jurisdictions are home to more than 6,000 nursing jobs.
With its robust nursing program, Pensacola State College pumps out applicants for many of those positions, says Dusti Sluder, a graduate of the school’s nursing program and now dean of the school’s Warrington campus. She spoke with FLORIDA TREND about the three programs housed in the college’s nursing department, each designed to provide accessible, cost-effective and state-of-the-art education.
Pensacola State boasts Florida’s oldest practical nursing program, which turns 66 this year. It accepts 30 students annually to earn their practical nursing license.
Those graduates can then feed into the college’s registered nursing program — the school’s largest health science program — for a two-year associate of science in nursing degree. It welcomes 270 students each year and offers three schedule options: a traditional roster of day classes, a night and weekend program, or a threesemester career mobility option for those coming from the practical nursing program.
From there, graduates can enter a two-year program to earn their bachelor of science in nursing degree. Forty students are admitted each semester for the online, dual-accredited curriculum. The Florida Department of Education recently congratulated the program for its above-average completion rate for the past three years, Sluder says.
Between the college’s three nursing programs, 300- plus students graduate each year.
“That is a high number for this area,” Sluder says. “We do our best to try to get as many students as we can, knowing that the nursing shortage is felt in the community, statewide and nationally.”
To attract students to the profession, Pensacola State College offered a Nurse Explorer Boot Camp last year. The four-day opportunity — funded by a $50,000 HCA Healthcare Foundation grant — invited 11 high school students to campus. They worked with the school’s nursing faculty and experienced the college’s Mary Smart Simulation Center, a 12,000-sq.-ft. facility with high-fidelity simulators that mimic patients by speaking, blinking, even making breathing and bowel sounds.
Several of those attendees are applying to the school’s nursing programs, Sluder says.
After graduating from Pensacola State College, most nursing students stay local and work at the nearby HCA Florida West Hospital, Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola or Baptist Hospital. If students can’t find a job within six months of graduating, they can take advantage of the college’s money-back guarantee and request a full refund of their tuition costs.
Given the nursing shortage, Sluder says she hasn’t seen any students graduate without a job. For the last five years, post-graduation employment rates have trended near 100%. She credits some of the achievements to the college’s faculty, especially a new position created in the last year: a success specialist who offers extra help to students.