College Dean Warns Nursing Shortage Likely To Worsen

In California, the combination of "a booming population, coupled with higher education budget cuts, has left the state with a questionable nursing future," Randy Caine -- dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Hawai'i Pacific University -- writes in a San Francisco Chronicle opinion piece. Caine writes that California's "nursing shortage will climb to 80,000 by 2015," adding that "it is impossible to discuss the need for more nurses without looking to how this will change the future of health care."

• "California's Nursing Shortage Hasn't Been Fixed" (Caine, San Francisco Chronicle, 2/4).