Some Ontario nursing school programs are reporting a record number of applicants this fall.
The Council of Ontario Universities says more than 13-thousand people applied to a university nursing program in 2022 _ up around 8 per cent compared to 2021, and 25 per cent compared to 2018 and 2019.
Colleges received a record number of applicants to nursing diploma programs this year, according to Colleges Ontario available data going back to 2013.
More than 12-thousand people applied to those programs in 2022, a 14 per cent increase over 2021, and a 25 per cent increase compared to 2018.
Educators and post-secondary groups say those strong application numbers have been driven by the media attention on pandemic-era front-line workers and the promise of job availabilities.
But while the first months of the pandemic spotlighted the valour of nursing,more than two years later, educators are grappling with how to prepare students for the current realities of the job.
Clinical placements can be hard to find and reports of critical staffing shortages and record-levels of burnout are abundant.
And while program interest is high, the programs rely on government funds to open up more spots.
Health-care job vacancies across the country are at an all-time high, according to recent data from Statistics Canada, with nursing roles reporting the largest increases.
Even before the pandemic, the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario estimated the province was about 22-thousand registered nurses short of reaching Canada's per-capita average.
With application numbers on the rise and a staffing shortage crisis at hospitals,the provincial government is looking to boost the number of nursing seats at colleges and universities.
The Council of Ontario Universities said the province has committed to funding 786 new nursing spaces at universities this fall compared to 2020.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health said the province is funding education and has created spaces for 870 additional registered nurses and more than one-thousand practical nurses, but the ministry did not respond to repeated requests to explain the funding allocation.