The state of Wisconsin will see a drastic increase in nursing shortages if the University of Wisconsin and other nursing programs around the state do not increase their number of graduates, UW nursing officials said Monday.

According to a recent task force report conducted by officials from all five of the UW System’s nursing programs, the nursing system needs to expand in order to reduce the projected nursing shortages.

UW School of Nursing Dean Kathryn May met with representatives from UW-Milwaukee, UW-Eau Claire, UW-Oshkosh and UW-Green Bay to discuss the shortage problem currently facing the state.

May said representatives plan to present the issues facing the nursing program to the UW Board of Regents Thursday.

Despite an increasing number of qualified nursing school applicants, UW Health Senior Public Affairs Specialist Phil Davis said the program’s small capacity has hindered their ability to accept new students.

He said this was apparent at UW this spring when fewer than 60 percent of qualified applicants were admitted to the School of Nursing.

“There were about 150 students that were accepted to the nursing program, but there were 400 that were very qualified. We didn’t have the staff and the facilities to educate (them),” Davis said.

Davis added there are a number of reasons for the inability of the nursing program to accept as many students as it would like, including the aging of the staff and lack of facilities.

However, according to May, an increase in funding may help solve some of the school’s problems.

“We have increased our enrollment as much as we can, but we have about used every resource we have,” May said. “So, now we would be talking about additional state funding to allow us to grow the size of our classes because we have to hire faculty to do that.”

May said during clinical coursework, an instructor cannot work with more than eight students. If she had a budget allowing her to hire three or four more faculty members, they could admit 30 or 40 more students to the program.

However, May added even if money allowed her to hire enough staff members, the amount of classroom space available to the nursing program could not house them. This is why she is bringing her concern to the Board of Regents, along with trying to raise money for a new building on campus.

“We’re talking to everyone who will listen,” May said. “I think that at this point, it is up to the regents to decide whether this is a priority at the UW System level and whether they are going to take it to the governor.”

In the meantime, May is considering offering sessions of the nursing program that would start in the summer months in order to get the most out of the current faculty and facilities.