Forwarded by Michele Campell, Exec Director PSNA ([email protected]) :
Op Ed from 6/10/03 New York Times
Nursing Wounds
By CLAIRE FAGIN and CORINNE RIEDER
Thanks to news coverage, advertising campaigns and word of mouth, an increasing number of people are aware of the nation's nursing crisis. Hospitals around the country are reporting full-time shortages of registered nurses as high as 19 percent. Nurses are being recruited from as far away as India and the Philippines. Industry experts say that by 2020, this country could have 800,000 fewer nurses than it needs.
We've even begun to understand, as studies from the University of Pennsylvania and other places suggest, that there is a direct connection between the ratio of nurses to patients and mortality rates. The fewer nurses, the higher the rate.
The good news is that more students are interested in nursing. A 2002 Harris poll found that 62 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds have discussed a nursing career for themselves or a friend. Nursing school applications in many places have soared. Baccalaureate nursing school enrollments, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, rose 8 percent last year. In February, Congress approved $20 million for nurse education programs that include scholarships and continuing-education grants for practicing nurses.
These hopeful developments, however, have brought to light an even more troubling problem in the academic pipeline. On a recent visit we made to California, we were startled to hear that there is a three-year waiting list of students seeking entry into the state's public nursing schools. The situation in New York City is no less disturbing. Hunter College, for example, is admitting 80 students to its undergraduate nursing program this year. As recently as 2000, the nation's nursing schools turned away nearly 5,900 qualified applicants, mostly because of a lack of faculty and classroom space, as well as budget cutbacks.
Unless these shortcomings are corrected, the nursing field will be unable to capitalize on an increased interest in the profession. Luckily, there are things we can do to solve the problems.
First, Congress needs to reauthorize the Nurse Education Act, which focuses on faculty development, geriatric training and other work force improvement programs. Financing for the program needs to be raised to $175 million in 2004 to address the crisis. In addition, federal and state governments need to reinstitute a highly successful program, the capitation grant program, used in the early 1970's to increase the number of students admitted to schools of nursing.
Geriatric training for nurses also needs to be expanded. More than half of all hospital patients are over 65, and their numbers are expected to rise during the next 20 years. Finally, the American Hospital Association needs to promote the designation of magnet hospitals. The designation, which is certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, raises nursing care standards, as well as improves the recruitment and retention of nurses.
Nurses are an essential element of our health care system. Research consistently shows that nurses increase the cost effectiveness and quality of care and improve the efficacy of a wide range of interventions, from heart surgeries to depression treatments. Qualified people are answering our nation's call for more nurses. Let's do what we can not to lose them.
Claire Fagin is dean emerita at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Corinne Rieder is executive director of the John A. Hartford Foundation.
