By Expanding Nursing Program to Baton Rouge, LSU Is Helping to Combat Statewide Shortage
May 05, 2026
Louisiana faces one of the most urgent nursing shortages in the country. The Louisiana Board of Regents estimates a shortage of approximately 6,000 registered nurses by 2030, a 40 percent shortfall in the workforce.
LSU’s new Baton Rouge nursing instructional site ensures more qualified nurses serve local and state communities, easing nurse-shortage trends in Louisiana.
Video by Grant French
“For the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans to open a site here in Baton Rouge and allow a lot of students that may have never had an opportunity to be a nurse because they couldn't leave the area, it's just a beautiful thing for our students here on campus and our community in general,” said Janell Soileau, Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner and Instructor of Nursing.
LSU Health New Orleans’ School of Nursing is consistently ranked among the top 10 nursing schools in the nation, with graduates serving as health care leaders across Louisiana. The Baton Rouge program receives the same rigorous, high-quality curriculum as those at the New Orleans campus, delivered through a combination of in-person instruction and synchronous distance education.
“With us being such a small cohort, at least at first, it is very intimate, and I know all my classmates, and it's really just been so awesome, like such a great experience so far,” said Lillian Blanchard, a nursing student from Ville Platte.
Students benefit from high-fidelity simulation labs and immersive learning environments that mirror hospital units.
“One of the highlights of my time here was holding a human heart and exploring other parts of the human body in the anatomy lab,” said Setora Braxton, a nursing student from Covington. “This school and attending game days, I realized that I loved LSU and its culture and environment, and I ended up choosing LSUHSC because they offered an off-campus instruction site here in Baton Rouge.”
Debra Boyd, program director, said students were drawn to the program because of its location. Boyd said the program will accept 90 incoming students this fall, with a goal of up to 120.
“I think because it makes it attainable. I've heard from a lot of students. I talk to them every day from Lafayette, and places that traditionally wouldn't drive to New Orleans, but they see Baton Rouge as an area that they can come to in practice,” Boyd said.
With clinical experiences provided in the Greater Baton Rouge area and instruction from dedicated nursing clinical faculty at the Baton Rouge location, students can receive clinical training through secured partnerships with FMOL Health | Our Lady of the Lake and Woman’s Hospital, offering students hands-on experience in real-world health care settings.
“We're going to offer a lot of opportunities for our students to go to community centers to help them, to go to case management centers and work with case managers, and to the food banks. We'll also offer outpatient and inpatient clinical experiences, including school nurse settings," Boyd said.
Graduates from the program can expect to enter the workforce ready to provide high-quality care, with the skills and clinical experience needed to meet Louisiana’s growing health care demands. Many will go on to serve directly in local hospitals, clinics, and community health centers, helping address one of the state’s most urgent workforce needs.
"FMOL Health | Our Lady of the Lake is proud to be a partner with LSU to prepare the future generation of nurses. LSU Health New Orleans has a long history and excellent reputation for producing exceptionally trained and highly skilled nurses, with a strong success rate on the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) board exam. This is a wonderful opportunity for students to come to LSU's flagship campus to complete their full undergraduate nursing curriculum in Baton Rouge, and we look forward to hosting these students and LSU faculty on clinical rotations at Our Lady of the Lake campuses,” said Nicole Telhiard, Chief Nursing Officer at FMOL Health.
By expanding nursing education opportunities, LSU is not only helping alleviate Louisiana’s nursing shortage but also strengthening the state's health care system, ensuring that Louisiana families have access to the care they need, when and where they need it.