Phil Mattingly, The Examiner
2007-11-06 08:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

WASHINGTON -

A group of Maryland hospital administrators and academics called Monday for $59 million over the next two years to finance a plan to curb a statewide nursing shortage that is expected to grow to at least 10,000 vacancies in the next decade.

The plan, which was put together by 27 hospital administrators and nursing school deans and professors, primarily addresses recruitment at universities and looks to double the number of nurses educated in the state.

Public and private funds would pay for the program’s first two years. Administrators want $33.8 million in the first year and $25.4 million in the second.

After that, hospital officials say the program would pay for itself by eliminating the expensive process of hiring nurses from private nursing agencies.

“People have been moaning and groaning for four or five years about this shortage,” said Connie Stone, chief nursing officer at Montgomery General Hospital in Olney. “This is, to my knowledge, the first really organized approach to solving this program, and it’s pretty darn exciting.”

The proposal calls for hiring 360 more faculty members over the next two years to teach an annual increase of 1,800 first-year nursing students. For the University of Maryland School of Nursing, which says it turned away more than 400 qualified applicants last year because of lack of professors and proper facilities, the proposal would solve the school’s most pressing issue. The school has 1,400 nursing students.

“We’ve started calling the shortage a public health crisis, and that is really what it is,” said dean Janet Allan.

About 13 percent of nursing jobs went unfilled last year, according to a Maryland Hospital Association survey released in August. In 2005, the rate was 10 percent. Without the plan, the MHA estimates 17 percent of nursing jobs would go unfilled in the next three years. State hospitals would need to hire 2,340 new nurses to reach a full staff.

Though the state is in the midst of a budget crunch, hospital officials say the time has come to put the plan in place.

The hospital group has spoken with Gov. Martin O’Malley’s office and believes money can be redirected into the program for two years, according to MHA spokeswoman Nancy Fiedler. The MHA will present the proposal to state lawmakers and continue to pursue private donations, she said.