ERIC M. JUKELEVICS

Nursing student Melissa Moreno, right, cares for Ximenna Flores in the pediatrics unit of the University Medical Center Tuesday afternoon while her mother, Rocio Flores, looks on. Officials said a shortage of nurses both locally and nationwide is a contributing factor to the potential closure of UMC's trauma center at the end of the year.

Thursday November 1, 2001

Nursing shortage has UMC officials worried

Even if the state agrees to spend $4.3 million to help keep both local trauma centers open through the end of the year, hospital officials say there are not enough nurses at UMC to keep its trauma center running at full capacity.

A nationwide nursing shortage has found its way to Tucson and is raising concern among officials at University Medical Center. It appears money is not the only cause for the potential shutdown of UMC's trauma center Dec. 31.

"One of the reasons UMC has decided to shut down the trauma center is due to our limited capacity (for patients). In part, (this is) a product of the nursing shortage," said John Duval, chief operations officer at UMC.

With not enough staff to provide proper care for patients, UMC has been forced to close some of its beds.

"It's my greatest uncontrollable problem," said Greg Pivirotto, president and CEO of UMC. "If you don't have the nurses, you can't accept the patients."

UMC announced Oct. 8 that it was closing its level one trauma center at the end of the year due to a lack of funding. The announcement came shortly after Tucson Medical Center announced that it too would close the doors of its trauma center for the same reason.

Pivirotto said that in the past, UMC has had to turn away patients as a result of a shortage of beds. This year, however, he said staff shortages would be the reason the hospital turns away patients.

While the trauma center at UMC does not specifically have a shortage of nurses, the hospital's overall shortage has had a "ripple" effect on the entire institution, Pivirotto said.

If beds are closed upstairs and the emergency room fills up, he said UMC would then have to turn away trauma patients, even if they required immediate attention.

If TMC's trauma center were to close simultaneously as expected, patients needing level one trauma care would then have to be flown 100 miles to a hospital in Phoenix.

This shortage of nurses is not unique to Tucson. The American Hospital Association released a report in June noting that of the 168,000 unfilled hospital positions nationwide, 126,000 of them are for nurses.

A 2000 study of registered nurses showed that Arizona ranks 47th in the nation for the number of registered nurses per 100,000 people.

Officials at the University of Arizona College of Nursing say they are doing their part to help fight the nursing shortage.

"We admit 100 students a year into our baccalaureate nursing program," said Marjorie Isenberg, dean of the College of Nursing. "We also have a Master's program that helps prepare students to be nurse practitioners."

In addition to these two programs, UA also has a doctorate program for nursing students.

"We here at UA have the only Ph.D. nursing program in the state. We view the Ph.D. program as equally important in combating the nursing shortage because of the need to prepare quality faculty to teach nursing," Isenberg said.

She added that she finds this fact very important since there is also a nationwide shortage of individuals qualified to teach nursing.

Pivirotto said UMC is also working to fight the shortage.

For the short term, UMC plans to give bonuses to nurses who work more than their usual amount of shifts. In addition to the bonuses, they would also be paid more than time and a half for overtime work.

For the long term, however, officials at the hospital are looking into bringing nurses out of retirement. This would require re-training many people, but Pivirotto said he feels it would be worth the effort.

He also said that another long-term plan to fight the nursing shortage involves $2,500 stipends for nursing students at Pima Community College. While these are not considered scholarships, the money is given to students to help them with their living expenses and tuition while they complete their nursing degrees at PCC.