Spokane7
55°
January 27, 2011 in Opinion
Editorial: Addressing nursing shortage deserves long-range view
The nursing shortage is a longstanding problem in the United States, but it is about to get worse for multiple reasons. Unfortunately, this comes about at a time when slots to educate nurses cannot keep pace with demand. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that about 233,000 additional jobs will open for registered nurses each year through 2016, but fewer candidates than that pass the licensing exam and thousands of nurses leave the profession annually.
The median age for nurses is 46.5 years nationwide and 48 years in Washington state, according to the Washington Center for Nursing. That means half the nurses are above those ages. In addition, the median age of nursing instructors is 52 years old.
The aging of baby boomers and efforts to increase access to health care have placed greater demands on caregivers. Many nurses are themselves baby boomers and will begin retiring in greater numbers.
Because of the increased complexity of health care, an Institutes of Medicine report recommends that 80 percent of nurses have at least a bachelor’s degree. Currently 48 percent do. Meanwhile, colleges and universities are faced with paring the number of students they can accept because of chronic budget shortfalls.
It is a big problem that defies a quick fix, especially when state budgets are undergoing severe cuts. But the state needs to adopt a long-range view so that it can consider solutions once the budgetary picture improves.
Teacher funding is one area that must be addressed. Instructors need to have advanced degrees, but attaining those can be expensive. Plus, there is little reward for that extra schooling when nurses can make more money at hospitals than at higher education institutions. Community college salaries for nursing instructors are especially uncompetitive. So even if the state could finance more nursing school slots (49 percent of qualified candidates in Washington state are currently rejected), it wouldn’t be able to hire enough instructors.
What is frustrating – but potentially exciting – about this is that the state is well-positioned to take on the challenges posed by the Institutes of Medicine report, which calls for a broader role for nurses.
We are already one of the more liberal states in granting nurses greater responsibility. Plus, the state’s health care organizations are at the forefront of the kind of coordinated care and integration that hold the key to a more efficient system. Locally, the Riverpoint campus has great potential for educating more nurses.
Linda Tieman, executive director of the Washington Center for Nursing, has this inscription on her notebook cover: “Taking the long view.” It’s a message our state leaders need to take to heart.
To respond online, click on Opinion under the Topics menu at www.spokesman.com.
Trudy Rubin: Egyptians say no to Islamists 
teresakelly on January 29 at 1:15 p.m.
As a practicing Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner in Spokane since 1980 (5 more years prior as a RN) who is nearing retirement, I am well aware of the current dilemma and future crisis in patients access to health care in the future due to a nationwide nursing shortage. It is a lack of nursing instructors, not qualified applicants that is negatively affecting our numbers. A new federal law, the “Nursing Reinvestment Act” is a good start to fix the problem. It offers scholarships to student nurses, provides grants for nursing schools and includes loan forgiveness for RN’s who attain the advanced education and credentials who will teach. Hopefully, Congress will fund it to make it happen this year. President Obama spoke of the respect Koreans give teachers; they call them “Nation Builders”. Once teachers get the professional recognition they so deserve, commensurate pay will follow.
Allen1 on January 31 at 4:59 a.m.
The author of this editorial must be talking about a different country. There is no shortage of nurses in the US. If anything, there is a glut of nurses. Can the author please explain why there are thousands of nurses in the US willing to take “anything” to be employed in the medical field? Don’t believe me? Have a look at allnurses dot com, and read through the thousands of posts by nurses looking for work.
tanyacocker23 on April 28 at 1:08 p.m.
can anyone tell me who is the author of this article?