Where I Stand — Guest columnist A. Allan Stipe: Nurses in short supply

Thursday, Aug. 29, 2002 | 9:05 a.m.

Editor's note: In August the Where I Stand column is written by guest writers. Today's columnist, A. Allan Stipe, is president and chief executive officer of Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center and Sunrise Children's Hospital. He also is president of Sunrise Health System.

THERE IS a nursing shortage in Nevada and throughout the nation. Based on Nevada Hospital Association 2001 data, there are 1,126 vacant nursing positions statewide but not enough applicants to fill them. Although Nevada does have the lowest nurse-to-population ratio at 520 nurses per 100,000 people, the truth is, as people move here in record numbers, we simply haven't been able to keep pace in adding new nurses.

On the supply side, Nevada's seven nursing schools have the capacity for no more than 300 applicants each year. It's even sadder that annually we have to turn away more than 100 qualified candidates, primarily because there isn't funding for the necessary faculty.

What has caused the nursing shortage? The answer becomes more apparent if you also look at the teaching profession, one of the other areas where an employment shortage exists. Both nursing and teaching have been traditional female roles, but today women have more job opportunities than ever before, and many women who choose a career in medicine are becoming doctors, particularly in the last 15 years. The average age of a nurse is 46.

In the past, many hospitals had their own three-year nursing schools, complete with dorms and classrooms. However, as nursing responsibilities have increased and become more technical, new laws and regulations have made these schools obsolete. The added responsibilities have made bedside nursing much more stressful, causing further strain.

In the last couple of years, hospitals across the country have developed aggressive nurse recruiting and retention programs -- not just for today but also for the future. The retention component is just as important as recruitment, especially considering the many options outside the hospital in doctors' offices, hospices, nursing homes, schools, managed care and home health.

The Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center and the Sunrise Health System's nurse recruiting and retention program is paying dividends with several hundred nurses hired and more students seeking careers in health care. The program involves instilling in students the value of a nursing career, providing scholarships, hands-on training experience and mentoring programs, expanding programs in health sciences, and providing competitive financial, educational and career incentives to attract and retain qualified nursing professionals.

Specifically, Sunrise is funding faculty and scholarships at both the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Community College of Southern Nevada. One program funds both the fall and spring semesters at CCSN for licensed practical nurses. If the graduates choose to work at a Sunrise Health System's hospital, the debt is forgiven.

After 9/11, HCA, Sunrise's parent company, and the Department of Health and Human Services, established a partnership to provide funding for qualified people who were displaced by events related to the terrorist attacks for careers in nursing, pharmacy, respiratory and medical imaging. With employment at an HCA facility, the debt is forgiven.

The Nursing Task Force was established through the Nevada Hospital Association in late 1999. Sunrise is very involved in this multi-discipline team of professionals who have taken a long-term view of nursing needs and developed strategies to meet current and future demands on the profession.

During the 2001 Legislature the task force was instrumental in passing Assembly Bill 378, which instructs the University and Community College System of Nevada to develop a plan to double the capacity of nursing graduates throughout the state's seven nursing schools during the next four years. The cost is approximately $27 million. This funding must be a priority.

The nursing shortage didn't happen overnight, and these solutions won't fix the problem overnight, but Nevadans can be confident we're moving in the right direction.

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