Vacant nursing positions fell to 10.8 percent last year, down from 12.6 percent in 2002 and a record high of 15.6 percent in 2001, according to the Maryland Hospital Association's annual personnel survey. The survey tracks vacancy and turnover rates among 42 different hospital jobs.

Between 1997 and 2000, vacancy rates jumped from 3.3 percent to 13.9 percent. Though the numbers are headed back down, officials doubt the trend will continue over the long term.

"What we're seeing in an uncertain economy, and when that happens, nurses are more likely to work more hours and change jobs within the same profession," said Catherine Crowley, vice president of the Maryland Hospital Association. "They'll switch between different nursing jobs at the same hospital."

The economy is helping hospitals retain nurses, but over the next five years an estimated 10,000 nurses will be eligible for retirement, Crowley said.

"It (vacancy rates) will go up again; we can't keep up with the rising demand," Crowley said. "Our schools just don't have large enough capacities."

Most nursing graduates are trained in community colleges where limited clinical space is the biggest hurdle to increasing enrollment, according to Sharon Bernier, the nursing program director at Montgomery College.

"There's been an incredible rise in interest, and we have many more students who are interested in the program than we can take at this time," Bernier said.

Montgomery College is expecting an enrollment of 260 students in the two-year program this fall, an increase of at least 60 students over recent years, Bernier said.

"If we were to increase the size of the programs, we wouldn't have anywhere to put the clinical space for the students," she said, explaining that the school competes with other colleges for valuable space at hospitals. "At Holy Cross Hospital, the nursing program includes students from Maryland and Johns Hopkins ... we're competing with everyone else."

Frederick Community College enrolls about 64 students in its clinical program, but as many as 1,400 students express interest in the program.

"It's very competitive," said Sandy Smith, associate vice president for enrollment management at the college. "The slots for students are going up in the state, but more and more people just want to get into the field."