{"id":1275,"date":"2026-05-28T16:33:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T16:33:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\/?p=1275"},"modified":"2026-05-28T16:33:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T16:33:49","slug":"arizona-faces-worst-nursing-shortage-in-the-nation-one-college-is-training-the-next-generation-fast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\/?p=1275","title":{"rendered":"Arizona faces worst nursing shortage in the nation. One college is training the next generation, fast."},"content":{"rendered":"
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MESA, Ariz. \u2014 Inside a simulation lab at Pima Medical Institute, nursing students are drawing blood, hanging IV fluids and monitoring mock patients on high-tech manikins. It looks like a hospital floor, and that’s exactly the point.<\/p>\n

Read more Peoria math teacher, coach dies after long cancer battle<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Arizona is projected to face a shortage of approximately 28,100 registered nurses as early as 2025, the largest nursing deficit in the nation, according to the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis. The gap is straining hospitals, clinics, and school health offices across the state, and the consequences are showing up in patient care.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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“Every hour, nurses are supposed to be laying eyes on their patient,” said Jennifer Morelli, nursing program director at Pima Medical Institute’s Tucson campus, one of several campuses across Arizona, and a PMI alumna herself. “The hard part is it’s hard to give quality care when you have eight patients at a time that you’re trying to see.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Morelli said units that once operated on a 1-to-5 nurse-to-patient ratio are now regularly running 1-to-7, and even 1-to-8 on overnight shifts. Medical-surgical units, which handle the broad range of pre- and post-surgical patients, are seeing some of the worst burnout as nurses struggle to manage the workload.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Pima Medical Institute’s Associate Degree in Nursing program takes 22 months to complete, roughly half the time of a traditional four-year nursing degree, with a total program cost of about $ 54,000, which includes tuition, registration, textbooks, and uniforms, according to the school’s website. Many Valley hospitals offer tuition reimbursement of up to $5,000 per year, meaning graduates can begin paying down their education costs while earning nursing wages from day one.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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“In two years, they can be making nursing wages, they can be at bedside, they can start working in the field,” Morelli said. “They can start making a difference, and then they can continue that education with the help of their employer.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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The program currently enrolls 140 students at its Tucson campus, and the outcomes back up the approach. According to PMI’s most recently reported data, nearly 97% of Tucson campus graduates passed the NCLEX-RN licensing exam on their first attempt, and more than 94% were placed in nursing jobs after graduation. The program’s retention rate has held above 85% in each of the past six reported years.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Students progress through a structured curriculum: learning finger sticks in their first semester, venipuncture in their second, and IV placement and fluid management by their third, timed to match their clinical rotations in long-term care and then acute care settings.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Morelli was quick to push back on criticism that accelerated training produces less-prepared nurses.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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“With the associate degree, we’re making them into a novice nurse,” she said. “They’re learning the foundation of their skills, the foundation of knowledge. An ADN nurse is not any less, they’re learning the skills to get in there and to start.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Many PMI students aren’t waiting until graduation to enter the healthcare workforce. Fifth-semester student Yasmine Urcadez works overnight shifts at a Tucson emergency department as a unit clerk, gaining firsthand knowledge of hospital operations, shift rhythms, patient diagnoses and critical transfer decisions, while simultaneously completing her coursework.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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“Being in the ED hospital setting, it’s very, very good to understand what the shifts look like, what the nurses do,” Urcadez said. She started as a medical assistant through PMI before enrolling in the nursing program, using each credential as a stepping stone.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Urcadez said she sees the nursing shortage up close every shift.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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“We have a lot of shifts where we are, unfortunately, a little bit short-staffed. Burnout is ridiculously high.” She said she talks to people constantly about entering the nursing field. “If you have the compassion and the empathy and you want to help people, I think healthcare and nursing specifically is one of the best ways to go.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Her classmate Paolina Aguirre is set to graduate in August at just 22 years old. She chose the PMI program after applying to a traditional four-year university program and weighing the options.<\/p>\n

Read more Rep. Greg Stanton criticizes detainment of Tempe parent and student by ICE<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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“It’s two years, it’s going to be really hard, but I can do it,” Aguirre said. “I’d rather get started now than later so I can make that change I wanted to.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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For Aguirre, that change is deeply personal. A hospitalization years ago and the care she witnessed, both good and difficult, including her grandmother’s time in hospice, shaped her commitment to empathetic bedside care.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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“I had a phenomenal nurse who treated me more like a human than a patient,” she said. “I think it’s really important to treat patients more like people rather than just a diagnosis or a room number.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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The nursing shortage doesn’t stop at hospital doors. One in three students nationwide lacks access to a full-time school nurse, according to national health advocacy groups, and Arizona has no state law requiring schools to employ one. PMI’s program offers a pathway into school nursing as well. Morelli said the school works with local school districts to place interested students in preceptorships with school nurses, allowing them to complete required clinical hours in that setting.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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“The need is just as great there,” Morelli said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Beyond hands-on clinical skills, PMI students train on DocuCare, a digital charting platform that mirrors real hospital electronic health records. Students create patient charts, document head-to-toe assessments, log medications and lab results, and submit their work to faculty for review, building the documentation habits they’ll rely on throughout their careers.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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In simulation labs, groups of three students work together to manage a mock patient, with 20 minutes to assess and provide care. By their fifth semester, the program raises the stakes: students are given two simultaneous patients and must triage and prioritize, mirroring the reality of managing six patients on their own after graduation.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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“We want to teach them priority,” Morelli said. “Do I need to take care of my patient with pneumonia, or do I need to go to the person with the chest tube? Which one is more urgent?”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Morelli said she measures success not just in graduation rates but in the kind of nurses her students become.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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“I tell them on orientation day: you are not a nurse right now,” she said. “Our goal is to push you and grow you so you can become the nurse you want to be. The goal is that the last day of the program, you are not the same person sitting in front of me at orientation day.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Aguirre said she feels that preparation every time she steps into a clinical rotation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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“Me dedicating my time in school is going to prepare me to take care of patients to my full and best ability,” she said. “If you want to be in healthcare, do it. People really need good healthcare teams and good people to advocate for them.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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>> Download the\u00a012News app for the latest local breaking news straight to your phone.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Read more In APS territory, homeowners paid nearly 15 times more than commercial sector for every new unit of power<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MESA, Ariz. \u2014 Inside a simulation lab at Pima Medical Institute, nursing students are drawing blood, hanging IV fluids and monitoring mock patients on high-tech manikins. It looks like a hospital floor, and that’s exactly the point. Read more Peoria math teacher, coach dies after long cancer battle Arizona is projected to face a shortage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education-impact"],"yoast_head":"\nArizona faces worst nursing shortage in the nation. 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