Katrina wiped clean a massive chunk of Louisiana’s healthcare infrastructure. New Orleans was THE major city in the state—a hot tourist destination as well as a thriving Mecca for businesses and industries. Suffice to say that the nursing demand was high before Katrina struck, and afterward things were twice as worse. Nurses are needed everywhere in the state, from major city and large hospital to small town community hospital and medical clinic.
The nursing shortage in Louisiana has become so insurmountable that innovative new nursing school programs have been launched. In 2008 a partnership between West Jefferson Medical Center and Our Lady of the Lake College resulted in a hospital-based Accelerated RN program that promises to put student nurses into hospital jobs ASAP, thereby solving this particular hospital’s staffing woes.
In fact, rural areas always run short of nurses as well as primary caregivers. For this reason many schools of nursing have developed innovative BSN “specializations” in rural health with the mission to increase the number of front-line RNs working in rural or underserved areas, ASAP.
The State Loan Repayment Program funded by Louisiana also aims to attract primary caregivers including Nurse Practitioners and Certified Nurse Midwives. In exchange for a percentage of nursing schools student loan repayment, qualified candidates must agree to work in a designated LA healthcare facility.
The Louisiana State Board of Nursing is one-stop resource for information vital to your nursing career and practice:
The Louisiana State Nurses Association is a professional membership organization that provides support for state nurses. You can use the organization for insider access to continuing education opportunities, nursing scholarships, job postings, and national and regional nursing conferences.