JON HELGASON/Arizona Summer Wildcat Registered Nurse Kelli Riggs, a UA graduate, preps an IV for a child in the Pediatric unit of UMC yesterday. Faced with a nursing shortage, the Arizona State Legislature passed legislation last week to increase the number of nurses in hospitals throughout the state.

Aging workforce, low retention rates plagued healthcare industry

UA nursing student Marlena Maish has been working hard for the past two years to complete her bachelor's degree. With just three semesters left until graduation, she is looking forward to pursuing a career in the health profession.

Fortunately for Maish, a career in nursing is in high demand, since several studies have indicated that there has been a significant decrease in the number of students enrolled in nursing programs around the country.

"Everyone is aware of the shortage that is occurring right now," Maish said. "Everyone keeps telling us how important our jobs are, especially since even in clinical work, it's obvious that there is a problem."

The Arizona State Legislature passed a bill last week to increase the number of nurses in hospitals throughout the state.

The legislation requires that the number of students graduation from nursing programs in Arizona double, increasing from the current rate of 1,000 graduates per year to 2,000 by the end of the 2006-2007 academic year.

For the UA, this means increasing the number of students accepted each semester from 50 to 100, which may force students to cram tightly into available classrooms.

But lawmakers didn't appropriate any money to expand nursing programs, and now the UA must find more than $2 million to educate the additional students.

Meanwhile, the shortage has left patients waiting longer, heath care professionals struggling to fill positions and state leaders searching for solutions.

The U.S. General Accounting Office has spent the last five years studying the factors contributing to the overall nursing shortage. Among their findings were an aging workforce, caused by a large baby boomer population in nursing - the average age of a registered nurse in Arizona is 47 years - and low hiring and retention rates due mainly to deficits in nationwide healthcare budgets.

In Arizona, only 628 nurses per 100,000 people are employed, compared to the U.S. average of 782.

But despite the shortage, the average weekly wage for nurses nationwide dropped from $792 in 1993 to $750 in 1999, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

A major part of the problem lies in the amount of funding to hire nurses hospitals have at their disposal, said UA College of Nursing Dean Marjorie A. Isenberg.

The Department of Health and Human Services reports that since 1995, the number of people applying to nursing programs has dropped nearly 10 percent nationwide, leaving fewer graduates to staff hospitals.

Yet at the same time, about 15 potential nursing students have been waitlisted at the College of Nursing, hoping for one of the 50 seats available each semester. The nursing program couldn't expand because of insufficient funding.

"Luckily I haven't seen any problems yet," Maish said. "But this is an expensive program that will require bigger class sizes and more funding to hire more teachers."

The problem, some experts say, isn't what the bill hopes to accomplish, but how it will actually increase the number of students that graduate.

Isenberg believes the bill is helpful, but doubts that it will solve the problem.

"The state is ignoring that the cost to educate nurses continues to rise," Isenberg said. "By increasing the number of students that have to graduate, we will have to look for funding elsewhere."

Isenberg proposes starting an intense 14-month nurse-training program for working people and recent college graduates. Other states, such as Michigan, have already successfully implemented such programs.

Isenberg is also looking to start a partnership between the College of Nursing and Tucson's hospitals. The program will help to provide training for students, thereby saving money on instructor salaries and classroom space.

Part of the plan will require a hospital to pay for all fees relating to a students' education, including faculty fees and clinical stipends, saving the College of Nursing $25,000 per student that the state has not provided funding for.

In return, the students will agree to work for the hospital where they were trained for a designated number of years.

"It's completely within the spirit of the bill to add partnering hospitals to our students' education. Hospitals can have a tangible benefit to the nursing program, which is a win-win situation for everyone," Isenberg said.

Bringing more men into the field is another of Isenberg's goals. More than 90 percent of nurses are female, and Isenberg hopes that incentives like the 14-month program might help more men make a career change to nursing.

JON HELGASON/Arizona Summer Wildcat Second year nursing student Marlena Maish researches in a computer lab in UMC yesterday. The Department of Health and Human Services reports that since 1995, the number of people applying to nursing programs has dropped nearly 10 percent nationwide, leaving fewer graduates to staff hospitals.

Greg Fahey, a UA lobbyist, has been working with Isenberg and the Arizona Board of Regents to help make the most of the bill.

He hopes the ideas Isenberg has created will help speed along the continuing goal to increase the number of graduating nurses in the state as well as the nation, but acknowledges that funding is needed to permanently solve the problem.

"Any more progress on what the bill will accomplish will take more time," Fahey said. "We'll have to push for additional legislation to gain resources to fund the bill."

Regent Jack Jewett, the co-chair of the Governor's Blue Ribbon Committee on Nursing, also believes the bill has a long way to go, but thinks that once the state begins to appropriate money, that much of the tension will be relieved. Funding for nursing programs will begin in 2004.

"There hasn't been a tremendous amount of group thinking, which is a part of the university's outreach," Jewett said. "We need to look at those in the hospital system and realize there is an obligation to find solutions to these problems,"

Isenberg agrees that hospitals should have a commitment to nursing programs, but is ready to accept the challenge that funding might not occur right away.

"I'm optimistic it will ultimately turn around for us in the end," Isenberg said. "If we continue to identify solutions to the crisis, surely we have the opportunity to turn this in our favor."