The number of nursing majors at Georgetown has continued to rise in the midst of a nation-wide shortage of nurses, contributing to the increase in overall interest in Georgetown’s School of Nursing and Health Studies.

Applications to the nursing department within the NHS have increased by nearly 15 percent over the past two years. Marianne Lyons, director of admissions and outreach in the NHS, said that the number of applications to the nursing program has increased from 362 in 2005 to 415 this year.

Overall undergraduate applications to the NHS rose by 55 percent to 820, a new school record, for the Class of 2011.

“We don’t have plans at the moment to increase enrollment, as our school operates within a university-wide enrollment cap,” Lyons said.

According to the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing’s Web site, there are four main causes of the national nursing shortage: the steep population increase, a decreasing number of new nursing students, an aging nursing workforce and a lack of advancement in technology which would help to make up for the shortage in the workforce.

To fill all necessary nursing positions, American colleges would have to graduate approximately 90 percent more nurses, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s Web site. The U.S. government estimates that an additional one million nurses will be needed within the next five years, according to Central Florida News 13.

Over the past year, 31 new nursing programs have been created nationwide, bringing the total of all American university nursing schools to 753, according to the AACN.

Within these nursing programs, applications and enrollment have increased in nursing programs nationwide.

Aye Hgut, a research and data assistant at the AACN, said that 163,706 students were accepted to undergraduate nursing programs across the country out of the 179,727 who applied. The following year, the number of accepted students increased by 10 percent nationwide*, with 180,127 of the 210,427 applicants to undergraduate nursing programs being accepted, Hgut said.

Lyons said that the NHS prepares students to take jobs as nurses directly out of college.

“Overall, students must complete approximately 900 hours in real-life clinical settings before they graduate,” Lyons said. “NHS uses about 200 sites for clinical training, including Georgetown University Hospital.”

Michael Relf, chair of the department of nursing of the NHS, issued a press release last May when all 61 graduating nursing students passed NCLEX-RN, the national licensure exam for nurses administered by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, on the first attempt.

“The department’s rigorous academic and clinical program prepares graduates for success in their professional careers,” Relf said in the press release. “Our 61 newest graduates continue a tradition of excellence at Georgetown. Their perfect NCLEX-RN results are a milestone, as well as launching point to a [distinguished] career in the classroom, the clinic and the community.”

Lyons said she is proud of the NHS, especially considering the national shortage of nursing students.

“We remain committed to recruiting talented young men and women who will use their high-quality educational experience to advance this important profession,” she said.