Editorial: A toast for nurses: To our health

Friday, May 31, 2002 | 9:32 a.m.

The medical malpractice crisis in Southern Nevada has been the dominant health care issue for the past few months. But another crisis that is equally as troubling, and one which has been festering for many years, shouldn't get ignored -- a nursing shortage. Tuesday's New York Times drove home the point in a story about the bidding wars for nurses because of a nationwide scarcity, one that is particularly severe here: Nevada has the lowest percentage of nurses in the United States.

The challenges that face nursing aren't limited to numbers, though, they also involve the skills that nurses possess, which obviously can affect the quality of care a patient receives. Registered nurses have college degrees, and command higher salaries, than licensed practical nurses, who typically have just a year of training. Unfortunately, hospitals have been hiring more licensed practical nurses and nursing aides, who have even less training, as a cost-cutting move. An ominous study published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine found that in hospitals with fewer registered nurses, patients were more likely to suffer from complications, including pneumonia and infections. And the fewer the registered nurses, the greater the likelihood that patients wouldn't recover as fast and have their hospital stays extended.

Part of the response to the shortage will have to be market-based: Registered nurses will have to be offered better salaries and benefits to keep them here and to lure others from elsewhere. But Nevada state government also should provide more nursing education funding so we have homegrown talent. Adding significantly more nurses won't be easy, but the state and health care providers must work together to ease the shortage -- our health depends on it.