Report: Nursing shortage crisis looms

NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee will have a ‘significant’ nursing shortage within four years that could reach crisis stage by 2020 if more is not done to attract students to the nursing profession, a report by a coalition of private colleges and universities says.

But those in the nursing education field said colleges are already turning away students because current programs can’t accommodate them all. The state enrolled 1,196 fewer students in 2002 than it did six years earlier, partly because of long vacancies in faculty positions, the report said.

‘We don’t need more programs,’ said Debra Wollaber, dean of the College of Health Sciences and School of Nursing at Belmont University. ‘We need expanded capacity in the programs we have.’

The report said if something is not done to address the problem there could be a shortage of at least 9,400 nurses within 16 years.

It recommended the state create more awareness of nursing and incentives to enter the field, which is being depleted by a number of factors that include retirements, increased demand for health care, more professional options for women, limited capacity in nursing schools and flat salaries.

‘Even immediate action may not avert this emerging crisis,’ Nancy Moody, president of Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate and chairwoman of the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association’s commission that made the report, said at a news conference at the state Capitol.

‘From the data that we’ve looked at, for every four of us who are baby boomers who retire, there will be one registered nurse to replace us,’ said Moody, a registered nurse.

There is not a current lack of nurses in Tennessee except in certain geographic areas and hospital specialties such as maternity wards and operating rooms, said Ann Duncan, executive director of the Tennessee Center for Nursing. But that will change by 2008, she said.

The Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association said the state Department of Education should work to increase awareness of the value of higher education. It also should help stimulate students’ interest in health sciences, preparation for college nursing programs and understanding of nurses’ jobs.

In addition, the association believes the state should invest more money in higher education to pay for more professors, scholarships and other needs such as enrollment in TennCare for nursing students who do not have medical insurance.

Moody said she did not have specific numbers on how much money the General Assembly should appropriate for the programs.

The average age of nursing professors is 51 and half of Tennessee’s nursing faculty is expected to retire within the next five years, said Mary Ella Graham, dean of Tennessee State University’s nursing school.

State Rep. Diane Black, R-Gallatin, and Sen. Rosalind Kurita, D-Clarksville, called the report a ‘working document’ that could serve as a basis for initiatives to deal with the problem.

‘It does give us some ideas about some things we can do within the field that perhaps we’ve all talked about but never put on paper,’ Black said.

In 2002, an informal survey of 59 Tennessee hospitals found that the vacancy rate for nursing positions was 10.2 percent, up from 9.1 percent in 2000 and 5 percent in 1998, the Tennessee Hospital Association said.

Some hospitals responded by offering higher pay, more perks and aggressive recruitment and retention programs.

The nursing shortage is nationwide, with the average U.S. vacancy rate about 11 percent, according to the American Hospital Association.
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On the Net:
Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association: http://www.ticua.org/