Nursing shortage looms: New Orleans program to train high schoolers as nurses launches next fall

Starting next fall, some New Orleans high schoolers will be able to work toward nursing certifications in a free, 36-month program, a joint initiative from New Orleans Career Center, Delgado Charity School of Nursing and Ochsner Health aimed at helping bolster the nursing ranks at a time when severe shortages loom.

The program, which students would begin while in their junior year, will launch a pilot class of about 20 students in fall 2023. Students will work toward a licensed practical nurse certification, potentially taking the board exam within a year of graduating high school.

Nursing shortage

The program comes as health leaders warn of worsening nursing shortage. Nationally, health care leaders have predicted a shortage of 1.1 million nurses by the end of 2030, including a 40% shortage in Louisiana, said Missy Sparks, vice president of talent management at Ochsner Health.

The partnership “is a fantastic opportunity for high school students to accelerate their career skills training in nursing so that they can become licensed, employed practical nurses as soon as possible after graduation from high school,” said Cheryl Myers, Delgado’s Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs and College Provost.

Sparks said the LPN program, as well as another dual enrollment program already underway with Ochsner for 10 high schools in the greater New Orleans area, will create more pipelines to health care careers.

“We see this as really a way of getting people in early, getting them to be here for an aging population,” Sparks said. “That shortage was already coming before the pandemic. Now we want to make sure we’re shoring up the supply of RNs, LPNs, the critical workforce that we’re going to need now and into our future.”

Licensed Practical Nurses, or LPNs, are employed mostly in doctors offices, home health agencies, nursing homes, hospitals and clinics, said Linda Green, director of the LPN Program at Delgado. They complete similar training as Registered Nurses, but can’t do certain procedures such as administering some medications.

The pilot is funded by two grants, said Carlin Jacobs, chief program officer at the New Orleans Career Center. In late 2021, the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation awarded NOCC more than $240,000 to support an LPN apprenticeship pilot.

And more recently, the U.S. Department of Labor awarded NOCC a $1.28 million grant. Those funds will be used in part to implement the pilot program and keep it free.

How it works

Students will begin in 11th grade with learning basic skills to allow them to work at Ochsner through an apprentice program. After next year, the students can apply to Delgado’s nursing school. They will be considered part of NOCC’s launch program, which is designed to support students with training for a year after they finish school.

Students will complete clinical hours at Ochsner Health and will also take part in professional development training at Ochsner to learn soft skills, workplace ethics training, communication and problem-solving strategies, and technical skills like equipment training, safety procedures, and use of ancillary patient medical devices.

“It’s tailor made for New Orleans students,” Jacobs said. “The charter system makes it so that not all students have to be following the same path … this the starting point for their nursing careers.”