https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2023/07/27/ucf-nursing-florida-funds-orlando-lake-nona.html UCF wants state of Florida funds to add nursing scholarships, add equipment in Orlando The University of Central Florida wants to draw state funds to boost its nursing program. UCF Board of Trustees on July 31 will consider approving roughly $700,000 in funding requests from the Florida Board of Governors tied to equipment and scholarship funds from the state's Linking Industry to Nursing Education (LINE) Fund. The total funding requests -- in two separate $350,000 increments -- would match part of the more than $10 million combined committed by AdventHealth and Orlando Health to the program and its proposed $68 million building in southeast Orlando's Lake Nona. Why this matters: Florida is facing a nursing shortage in the future. Local colleges and health systems are strategizing on what they can do to add nurses into the region's talent pipeline. The state in its most recent budget announced roughly $25 million through the LINE program and another $100 million through the Prepping Institutions, Programs, Employers, and Learners through Incentives for Nursing Education (PIPELINE) program. Matching funds would help double the number of scholarships for UCF tied to funds from each of the health systems from 10 to 20. The money also will cover equipment for training and simulation, such as medical manikins, practice equipment and virtual-reality tools. "These proposals will enable UCF to secure additional funding to serve the growing enrollments in our nursing programs," said UCF documents. UCF officials were not immediately available for comment. The new 90,000-square-foot building in Lake Nona -- which is expected to be completed by fall 2025 -- and other investments are part of UCF's effort to grow enrollment by 150 new students per year. The increase would result in a total of 4,150 graduates eligible for licensure created by the college over the next 10 years. The move is critical, as Florida is projected to face a shortfall of 59,100 nurses by 2035, per a 2021 report commissioned by the Florida Hospital Association and the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida. Metro Orlando's share of the shortfall is expected to be 4,627 by 2035, including both registered and licensed practical nurses. It's also important to set graduates up for success in addition to expanding teaching capacity, Karen Frenier, Orlando Health senior vice president of human resources and chief nurse executive, told Orlando Business Journal. That includes a virtual nurses' pilot to help with things like admission and discharge, as well as technology to help make documenting patient information easier, she said. "We can produce a lot of [graduates], but you have to have the support to surround them with success or we'll burn them out and they won't stay at the bedside. There are so many components of doing the work differently to support the new nurses." _____________________________ **As of July 19, 2023, a construction manager has been selected for the project. The project is in design and construction is expected to begin in 2024. The project will consists of the pre-construction and construction services of the College of Nursing Building to include approximately 60,000 net assignable square feet (NASF) of space, and approximately 90,000 gross square feet (GSF), to be assigned to the College of Nursing. The total project cost for the College of Nursing Building will be approximately $63,781,430 for planning, design, permitting, construction, landscape/hardscape/irrigation, and furnishings and equipment. The project size, scope, and budget may be changed at UCF's discretion, and this project is subject to the availability of funding. The contract for Construction Management services will consist of two phases. Phase one, preconstruction services, includes constructability analyses, design engagement with the architect to ensure design concepts are within budget, cost estimating, early procurement of equipment, value engineering (if necessary), and the development of a Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) at 100% Construction Documents. Preconstruction services will be compensated at a flat fee of $200,000.00. If the GMP is accepted, phase two, the construction phase, will be implemented. In phase two of the contract, the Construction Manager becomes the single point of responsibility for performance of the construction of the project and shall publicly bid trade contracts. Failure to negotiate an acceptable GMP within the time provided in the agreement may result in the termination of the Construction Manager's contract