SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, Pa. — This is just a glimpse of what nursing students at Penn State Schuylkill do every day, practicing patient care on mannequins to prepare for a full-time nursing job.
These students want to be a part of the nursing shortage solution.
According to the Hospital Health System Association of Pennsylvania, the vacancy rates for registered nurses increased to 30% from 2019 to 2022, meaning there are even fewer nurses to take care of patients.
"A lot of them are not getting the right care. And really, it's not just to justify the nurse itself for not doing the care, but like there's a background. The stuff happening behind closed doors, they don't have the time to give 100% to each client, even though they need to," said Scarlet Tejada Rodriguez, PSU Schuylkill Nursing student.
Finding qualified nurses to fill job openings has been difficult for health care centers throughout the state, especially in Schuylkill County.
Students at Penn State Schuylkill say the price tag of a nursing degree could deter people from joining the field.
"It's really not easy for them to pay for this schooling. There's all these additional things you need to buy, like books, the programs you need to sign up for, so I think that scholarships and things like these grants are a great way to help them get through it," said David Irizarry, PSU Schuylkill Nursing student.
The Schuylkill County Commissioners are donating $100,000 to endow in scholarships for nursing students at Penn State Schuylkill.
"We need nurses, and this scholarship that we're proposing for the Penn State Schuylkill campus nursing department, this will provide scholarships every year forever, and it does give a preference to a Schuylkill county resident," said Commissioner Barron 'Boots' Hetherington, Schuylkill County.
PSU Schuylkill Chancellor Patrick Jones hopes the scholarship will keep nurses here.
"There's a greater likelihood that they will stay. They're from the area, they'll do clinicals in the area as part of their nursing program, they'll receive job offers before they graduate," said Patrick Jones, PSU Schuylkill Chancellor.
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