Experts seek solutions to Nevada’s growing shortage of nurses

SANDRA CHEREB

Monday, March 5, 2001 | 3:55 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Nevada needs to expand educational opportunities and rethink ways to recruit nurses before its exploding population and aging residents make an already critical shortage of nurses even worse, a report released Monday recommends.

"The nursing shortage in Nevada increasingly jeopardizes the ability of health care providers to provide timely access to health care services and thus, represents a growing threat to the state's public health," the report said.

Titled "The Nursing Workforce and Education in Nevada," the report was prepared by John Packham, health policy analyst at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, and the Nevada Nurse Task Force, formed last year by the Nevada Hospital Association to study the state's growing shortage of nurses.

Nevada's nursing shortage was the focus of a two-day conference that began Monday at the Holiday Inn. Outside, nurses from a Reno hospital picketed the gathering over a labor dispute.

Two weeks ago, a study released by the Department of Health and Human Services ranked Nevada last in the nation in nurse-to-population ratio. Nevada has a ratio of 520 nurses per 100,000 people, far less than the national average of 782.

The problem will get worse, experts fear, unless new nurses are recruited.

Nevada's population boom and the graying of its residents - including nurses - will further strain the health care system, said Doreen Begley, nurse executive for the hospital association.

"Individuals can't fix this problem. The health care industry alone can't fix this problem," Begley said. "This is a societal problem. It's everybody's problem."

Among the report's key findings:

-Nevada's higher education system is unable to meet the demand to fill the estimated 662 new nursing jobs that will be generated in the state each year through 2008.

-Nearly 75 percent of new jobs created will be in Las Vegas; 17 percent in Reno; and about 8 percent in rural areas.

-More than 50 percent of registered nurses with active Nevada licenses are 46 years old or older, while the number of nurses younger than 30 has dropped dramatically.

Cultural changes over recent decades will make it even more difficult to attract people to the nursing profession, experts agree.

Historically, nursing was viewed as a woman's profession. But women today have many more career options - many that don't require evening, weekend or holiday work.

Begley said health care professionals, the education system and businesses need to try to spark interest among today's youths in health care careers.

Besides expanding higher educational opportunities, the report suggests the health care industry can help retain nurses by providing incentives, such as child care, adequate salaries, flexible scheduling and tuition reimbursement.

It also suggests the state should increase funding for nursing programs, scholarships and other financial aid.

Perhaps most of all, Begley said, is the need for nurses and other health care providers to share with others, especially children, why they do what they do.

"We like what we do," said Begley, a former emergency room nurse. "It's not pretend. It's people helping people; people helping humanity."

Outside the conference hall, about 50 nurses from Washoe Medical Center and their supporters picketed the gathering to draw attention to their labor dispute with the Reno hospital and share their own opinions on the state's nursing shortage.

Carrying signs that read, "Bean counters are not patient care advocates," and "Nurses deserve fair pay and fair benefits," the group handed out fliers calling for whistle blower protection for nurses, longevity benefits and changes in accreditation procedures to increase the quality of patient care.