What does it take to be a well-trained nurse? The answer used to be two-year associate’s or four-year bachelor’s degree programs. But as the nursing shortage 1 , a growing number of schools and hospitals are establishing “fast-track programs” that enable college graduates with no nursing 2 to become registered nurses with only a year or so of 3 training. In 1991, there were only 40 fast-track curricula; now there are more than 200. Typical is Columbia University’s Entry to Practice program. Students earn their bachelor of science in nursing in a year. Those who stay on for an 4 two years can earn a master’s degree that 5 them as nurse practitioners ( 执业护士 ) or clinical nurse specialists. Many students are recent 6 ; others are career switchers. Rudy Guardron, 32, a 2004 graduate of Columbia’s program, was a premedical student in college and then worked for a pharmaceutical ( 药物的 ) research company. At Columbia, he was 7 as a nurse practitioner. “I saw that nurses were in high 8 and it looked like a really good opportunity,” he says. “Also, I didn’t want to be in school for that long.” The fast-track trend fills a need, but it’s also creating some 9 between newcomers and veterans. “Nurses that are still at the bedside 10 these kids with suspicion,”says Linda Pellico, who has taught nursing at Yale University for 18 years. “They wonder, how can they do it quicker?” The answer is they don’t.