Starting in August, LSU will offer its prestigious nursing school to 30 students at the Baton Rouge campus.
Historically, LSU Health schools have only been offered at the New Orleans campus. Students pursuing a nursing degree would attend the Baton Rouge campus for two years and then relocate to New Orleans to finish their degree.
The dean of LSU’s nursing school Demetrius Porche and President William F. Tate IV were the driving forces behind the expansion, which will admit 60 more students next spring and 90 students in the fall next year.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for our students on the LSU A&M campus who want to stay close to that campus and still be able to participate in the activities on the main campus,” Porche said.
Not only was there a need from the student population, but there is an overwhelming nursing shortage in Baton Rouge. By offering the same program as in New Orleans, LSU hopes to keep its nursing students in the Baton Rouge area during college and potentially after graduation.
“We had to look at how can we expand,” said the Associate Dean of Nursing Jennifer Manning. “Do we have larger classroom opportunities? Another option would be to open another campus to expand that way, which is exactly what we are doing.”
The New Orleans campus is almost at full capacity with about 400 students this school year. The program has strict requirements, making the application process competitive. However, with the expansion to Baton Rouge, the school will see increased enrollment numbers because of the additional space.
“There are definitely going to be more seats,” Manning said. “We didn’t shrink the New Orleans program, we only added additional spots in Baton Rouge.”
Over the three years required in nursing school, students will complete 900 hours working in a hospital. LSU’s primary health partner, Our Lady of the Lake Hospital, will work with the nursing program to provide the clinical setting.
Additionally, the program will offer faculty based in New Orleans the opportunity to transfer to the Baton Rouge campus.
“We may pull from New Orleans, but we are also hiring new faces in Baton Rouge,” Manning said. “We may also have some opportunities where we can Zoom in experts to students in Baton Rouge.”
Haley Guidry, a sophomore at LSU, is attending the university’s nursing school in New Orleans this August. Though she is excited to attend, she expressed some frustration and sadness upon leaving the community she made the past two years.
“I already have friends here and am in clubs,” Guidry said. “Through it all I’ve gotten used to being here.”
Guidry was born and raised in New Orleans and said she’ll return home to live with her parents while attending school.
“I did want to stay here for the whole four years,” Guidry said. “But once I applied to the New Orleans campus, I didn’t know there was going to be an option to stay in Baton Rouge.”
According to the Louisiana Board of Regents, there will be a nursing shortage of 40% in 2030, equaling roughly 6,000 nurses in the Baton Rouge area. As the leading nursing school in Louisiana, LSU has taken on the responsibility to ease this issue.
“What we’re trying to do is really increase the health care workforce, the number of nurses that we’re producing as the LSU Health Science Center School of Nursing and positively impact that workforce,” Porche said.
