The backstory<\/p>\n
You can learn skills for patient care, but the drive and desire for nursing doesn\u2019t come from a classroom.<\/p>\n
READ: Longtime USF broadcaster Jim Louk retiring after 2025 football season<\/a><\/p>\n “I really love working in health care and when I got to shadow a facility and saw what the nurses do in a rehab and nursing home, I just fell in love with it,” said Gabriela Alvarez, a nursing student at USF St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n Alvarez is a first-year student in the USF St. Peterburg\u2019s accelerated two-year nursing program. She previously earned her bachelor\u2019s degree at USF in biomedical science. Her second month into the 16-month program, she\u2019s learning fast in the program\u2019s Center for Experiential Learning and Simulation and at hospitals.<\/p>\n “I actually got my first clinical round on a neuro floor, so I got to see how to do a stroke evaluation,” said Alvarez.<\/p>\n MORE: Feed-A-Bull Pantry reopens at USF after major expansion<\/a><\/p>\n What we know<\/p>\n A two-year fast track program is no longer enough at USF St. Petersburg. The campus will offer a four-year nursing program to students starting in fall 2026.<\/p>\n “Now we get to start with them from the jump where they\u2019re fresh, and they\u2019re right out of high school, and so I think that\u2019s probably the biggest change,” said Allyson Duffy, the pathway director for pre-licensure nursing at USF St. Petersburg & Sarasota.<\/p>\n Duffy said the campus recently hosted more than 100 Pinellas County high school students last week.<\/p>\n “We were able to show those students \u2018look, you\u2019re walking distance away from these major hospital systems where you can really get that great experience,\u2019” said Duffy.<\/p>\n READ: Flood app developed by USF team sees upgrades one year after Helene, Milton<\/a><\/p>\n What students learn prepares them to take the National Certification Licensure Exam (NCLEX). They must pass the exam to become registered nurses and start working.<\/p>\n “The NCLEX did change a little in how they’re assessing that clinical judgment. And so, we also had to do that in our curriculum,” said Duffy.<\/p>\n By the numbers<\/p>\n Florida\u2019s 2024 first-time pass rate for NCLEX exam was 84.9%, below the national average of 91%, according to a report from the Florida Center for Nursing<\/a>.<\/p>\n Duffy said USF\u2019s pass rates are well above that \u2013 at 97%. Every new nurse added to Florida\u2019s workforce is needed.<\/p>\n “By 2035 you know the estimate is about 59,000 nurses that we’re going to be short in the state of Florida, and so that’s why we’re going to continue to do what we can to help support that,” said Duffy.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/f6594aec55e300861d23670dbeede524.jpeg\"\/)
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