In the first week of clinicals, Adri Perez decided to take a short lunch after hours hunched over their laptop, reviewing notes between shifts.
Just short of completing their first year, the San Diego City College nursing student is beginning to feel the pressure.
“I used to work in the government,” Perez said. “ Everything is stressful.”
Perez transitioned into nursing after working at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas for four years, where they were instrumental in protecting reproductive rights.
City College’s highly competitive nursing program ranks No. 2 in the state and No. 3 in the nation, and continues to serve as a bridge that connects the region’s workforce needs with those ready to step into them.
The program is designed to prepare trainees for immediate entry into the workforce, feeding into the healthcare system.
Last month, the Rebuilding Nursing Infrastructure program granted City nursing $2 million, representing a transformative investment expanding training and supporting future nurses, the San Diego Community District announced.
Dometrives Armstrong, associate dean of Nursing Education, spearheaded the grant with colleagues to not only expand program resources but also empower students and power the California economy.
“This support will continue to expand access (and) strengthen our training infrastructure,” Armstrong said in the press release announcing the grant. “It will prepare the next generation of compassionate, highly skilled nurses ready to meet California’s healthcare needs.”
In San Diego and across the state, the profession remains essential, strained and shows where the contradiction has become increasingly visible in the wake of staffing shortages and burnout.
Earlier this year, CalMatters reported Kaiser Permanente nurses in California and Hawaii went on a four-week strike demanding solutions to staffing shortages and burnout.
Research reflects that pressure at scale.
“Nurse burnout was associated with lower health care quality and lower patient satisfaction,” according to a 2024 meta-analysis published in JAMA Network Open.
For many students, nursing represents a pathway to stable income and long-term benefits, including retirement options that have become increasingly rare in other fields.
At City, the nursing program is becoming a key entry point into one of the region’s most in-demand and high-pressure professions, as nearly 60% of California counties face a nursing shortage, according to the Department of Health Care Access and Information.
Nursing students come from various backgrounds and circumstances, making enrollment less about timing and more about survival.
“When the economy is doing well, our enrollments are down, and when the economy is in a tough stretch or in a recession, we see our enrollment go up,” said Chris Ferguson, who oversees all of California’s 116 community colleges, in a CalMatters article.
This story was edited by Nadia Lavin and David J. Bohnet.
