{"id":897611,"date":"2026-10-28T14:30:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T14:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/897611\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T14:30:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T14:30:17","slug":"uh-hilo-expands-nursing-program-to-help-address-hawaiis-shortage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/897611\/","title":{"rendered":"UH Hilo expands nursing program to help address Hawaii\u2019s shortage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) &#8211; The University of Hawaii at Hilo is expanding its nursing program to help address a critical shortage of nurses across the state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">A new <a href=\"https:\/\/hilo.hawaii.edu\/depts\/nursing\/hsde\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/hilo.hawaii.edu\/depts\/nursing\/hsde\/\">high school direct entry pathway<\/a> allows qualified Hawaii high school graduates to reserve a seat in UH Hilo\u2019s nursing program, eliminating the need to reapply during their sophomore year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Students must complete prerequisite courses and maintain at least a 3.0 GPA each semester to keep their reserved seats.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The university is also increasing enrollment after receiving funding from the state Legislature for five additional faculty positions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The program welcomed 40 new nursing students this year, up from 30, and plans to admit 50 next year. That\u2019s a 67% increase over two years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">UH Hilo officials say the expansion is especially important for neighbor island communities, where nursing shortages are more severe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cThe more rural, the more need there is,\u201d said Jeanette Ayers-Kawakami, director of UH Hilo\u2019s School of Nursing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Among the first students in the direct-entry program is Hilo High School graduate Dylan Yanazaki, who hopes to stay on Hawai\u02bbi Island and care for local families.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cIt would be great to be a part of that solution here,\u201d Yanazaki said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The four-year nursing pathway includes clinical training in rural communities, community health projects and hands-on practice in a simulated hospital environment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">For more information, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/hilo.hawaii.edu\/depts\/nursing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/hilo.hawaii.edu\/depts\/nursing\/\">UH Hilo\u2019s nursing program website<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) &#8211; The University of Hawaii at Hilo is expanding its nursing program to help address a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":897612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-897611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=897611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/897612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=897611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=897611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=897611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}