Holland College launches additional 32-seat practical nursing program

Holland College is launching an additional practical nursing program next January.

Thirty-two people will be able to enrol for the two-year diploma program, which teaches students the fundamentals of nursing and pharmacology so they can work in long-term care facilities and other health-care centres.

"We are all well-aware of the shortage of health-care professionals in Prince Edward Island and across the country," Holland College president Sandy MacDonald said in a release. 

"This additional offering of the Practical Nursing program will help address the problem."

The province is allotting $700,000 in funding over four years to help with costs associated with the program's delivery.

Earlier this month, University of Prince Edward Island announced it was increasing the number of annual nursing seats available at its school. 

UPEI is also creating a new faculty of medicine in partnership with Memorial University in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Holland College's program will be taught at its Prince of Wales Campus.

The college already offers two other practical nursing programs: one at the same campus with a September start date and the other at its Summerside Waterfront Campus with a January start date.

The programs offer a 160-hour placement at a clinical site.

Upon graduation, students must complete the Canadian Practical Nurse Registration Exam to be eligible for initial licensure.

Those looking to start in January 2022 would be expected to graduate December 2023. Holland College says it will offer another 32 new seats in 2024.