More nurses Worsening shortage affects politics, costs, care.
The existing shortage of nurses in California threatens only to get worse. The University of Southern California is considering eliminating its undergraduate nursing program. Community colleges are turning away an estimated 5,000 qualified applicants because they don't have the money or instructors to teach them. A new survey suggests that one in five nurses, fed up with the politics and pressure, may quit within five years. The state is trying to deal with this crisis through a new mandate.