Nurse Donna Audia works on a patient at the
University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.
(AP Photo/Rob Carr)
A 2008 article in the AMA Journal reports an expected nationwide shortage of 500 thousand nurses by 2025. Workforce analyst Dr. Peter Buerhaus said “Over the next 20 years, the average age of the RN will increase and the size of the workforce will plateau as large numbers of RNs retire.”
The demand for “RNs is expected to increase during this time, a large and a prolonged shortage of nurses is expected to hit the US," said Buerhaus. Even today, federal agencies estimate 135 thousand nursing vacancies -- over 8 percent of needed nurses.
Demand outstripping supply for nurses is not an isolated phenomenon in healthcare. The same situation exists in many allied health supporting fields like Health Information Management, Medical Laboratory Technology, Physical Therapist Assistant, Radiography, Respiratory Therapy, and Diagnostic Medical Sonography.
Special schools are being established to help supply the need like Northern Virginia Community College’s Medical Specialty Campus in Springfield, Virginia. The new, beautifully equipped, facility is running at capacity including training RNs in a 2 year intensive program, despite a desperate shortage of professional instructors.
Why the instructor shortage? Graduates in these specialty areas earn higher salaries than community colleges are permitted to pay instructors. It seems like a classic “Catch-22” mirrored at other institutions of higher learning across the country.
The NOVA medical campus has found a solution in partnership with area hospitals. The hospitals and the school have joined together to form the Northern Virginia Health Care Workforce Alliance. Through the Alliance and the NVCC Medical Campus Provost Brian Foley, a deal has been struck so that stipends (for the lack of a better word) from the partner provider institutions has increased the pay levels of instructors to the point where it makes sense for professionals to take on the extra responsibility of teaching.
An internal debate inside academic circles threatens to make finding instructors even more difficult. There is discussion about creating new terminal degrees at the doctoral level to teach folks how to become sub-specialists.
Another level of complexity has been added to the mix. Many great nurses are being siphoned off into allied professions and going back to school to become “nurse practitioners” or “physician assistants.” Both relatively new designations aim to suppliment the serious physician shortage, but is anyone teaching doctors how to administer ancillary staffs?
Physician assistants came to be from advanced training made available to military corpsman following the Viet Nam conflict. Now, these new assistants work to extend the capabilities of the physician performing much of the work that a General Practitioner used to do, but under a doctor’s supervision. The extra training for this job averages around 26 additional months. These professionals are allowed limited prescription writing privileges. Nurse practitioners fulfill a similar function, but enjoy a wider licensure at least in some states and can set up their own practices.
In February of this year, Illinois Senior Senator Richard Durbin introduced legislation to expand nursing education opportunities and to expand the programs for people to train those nurses. The bill was referred to the Kennedy-Dodd Committee and awaits report to the full body.
The shortage of training facilities and faculty is so acute that almost 50 thousand eligible applicants were turned away for lack of space last year.
As America searches for solutions leading to a reformation of its own health care system, comparing health care regimes in other developed nations with proposals made and challenges faced will be essential in negotiating the most palatable and efficient design for all concerned. This series attempts to connect the dots and explode the talking points in hopes that the folks who actually have a vote might come to a conclusion.
Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher in seven states and author of the forthcoming “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@gmail.com.
For more info:
The proposed bill
Nursing and ancillary healthcare personnel shortages
How the nursing shortage may affect you.
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