Higher education institutions with nursing programs in the Inland Northwest are reporting high graduation rates, with many graduates landing health care jobs close to home.

By the end of 2025, the U.S. is projected to need more than 3.1 million registered nurses, but will only have the capacity to supply about 2.9 million, according to workforce projections by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As the U.S. grapples with a nationwide nursing shortage, hospitals in the Spokane area are increasingly hiring graduates from regional schools including Gonzaga University, Washington State University Spokane, Eastern Washington University, and Spokane Community College, representatives of the schools say.

Gonzaga’s School of Health Sciences has about 1,000 nursing students combined in its bachelor of science in nursing program and graduate nurse practitioner program. Seventy-eight percent of the school’s 2024 nursing undergraduates have stayed in Washington state to work, with Renton-based Providence Health & Services-Washington as the largest employer, says Julie Wolter, dean of Gonzaga's School of Health Sciences.

At WSU Spokane, 74% of the school's bachelor of science in nursing graduates who were surveyed as part of the program’s exit survey reported they had gained employment in the Spokane area. Providence also serves as the largest employer of the school's nursing graduates, says Gina Raebel, director of marketing and communications at Washington State University College of Nursing.

An estimated 200 students graduate from WSU's nursing program each year, adds Raebel.

After launching its bachelor of science in nursing program in fall 2023, EWU's first class of 40 nursing students has graduated in May, says Donna Bachand, nursing program administrator and department chair at EWU's School of Nursing. Of those 40 graduates, 36 are now registered nurses and 75% have taken jobs at nearby health care facilities. Tacoma-based MultiCare Health System has hired 10 graduates and 12 graduates have joined Providence, Bachand says.

Cheri Osler, associate dean of nursing at SCC, says the community college’s nursing program placement rate with Spokane-area facilities is particularly high.

“Ninety-nine percent of our graduates stay in the Spokane area,” Osler says. “So we have no problem as far as our nurses getting jobs.”

Many SCC nursing program students are older individuals who already live in the area, which is contributing to high job placement rates with health care providers in the area, Osler says. SCC also offers an associate degree, which typically takes 18 months due to complete, compared to a bachelor of science in nursing program, which can take four years to complete.

“The students that we have in our program are here because we have a strong program, they're from Spokane, and it's just very convenient,” Osler explains. “They have families, they have jobs, so they can definitely make our program work with the busy lives they have.”

SCC admits 56 students into its nursing program twice a year. Of those 56 students, 85% to 90% are projected to graduate. More than 96% of those graduating students also pass the National Council Licensure Examination, Osler says.

In 2024, about 20% of jobs in Spokane County were held in the health care and social assistance industry, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data compiled by Spokane Trends, a website published by Eastern Washington University’s Institute for Public Policy & Economic Analysis. Health care employment has remained a leading employment sector in Spokane County for 20 years, according to Spokane Trends data.

Spokane's top health care employers make efforts to hire recent grads from the Inland Northwest, such as at MultiCare, where recruiter Katie Van Deusen says company representatives attend career fairs and host networking events to recruit nurses graduating from Spokane-area nursing programs.

“Nursing students have the chance to work on our floors at Deaconess or Valley (hospitals) while in school, and they have a chance to get a feel for different units (in) the hospital while developing their skills as nurses,” Van Deusen says.

Providence provides opportunities for both university and high school students to explore career pathways including surgical viewings, career exploration days, career fairs, and more, says Jen York, senior communications specialist at Providence Inland Northwest Washington.

At MultiCare, Van Deusen estimates about 50% of its nurses who work at its facilities here are from the Spokane area or have graduated from programs here.

MultiCare Deaconess Hospital and MultiCare Valley Hospital have six new resident nurses from Gonzaga University that have joined the health care organization so far in 2025. Nine nurses have joined from Spokane Community College, 11 have been hired from Eastern Washington University, and 34 resident nurses were hired from Washington State University, says Kevin Maloney, media relations manager for MultiCare's Inland Northwest region. Two graduates also were hired from Heritage University in Toppenish, Washington, he adds.

“We found that our nurse residents typically are local more often than not,” says Van Deusen. “I think we tend to see more variation in where nurses are from when you're hiring more experienced nurses.”

While Providence doesn’t keep track of the schools its new resident nurses have graduated from, it does track the number of new graduates the organization hires annually, says York. Sacred Heart Medical Center & Children’s Hospital has hired 150 new resident nurses year to date in 2025. Holy Family Hospital has hired 41, and St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Medical Center has hired 29 new nurses.