MAHONING VALLEY Nursing-shortage crisis is looming, leaders say

The number of nursing schools is in decline, a nurses group official says.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Steps need to be taken to alleviate the nursing shortage, which is now a serious problem and is projected to become critical in the next 15 years, according to national and local nursing leaders.
"This is a growing problem. It's a public health-care crisis, and we have a short window of time to do something about this," said Linda J. Stierle, chief executive officer of the American Nurses Association. This country "must invest in nursing if we're serious about patient safety and quality of care. If we don't, patients pay the price," she added.
Stierle was the keynote speaker Friday for the Ohio Nurses Association's annual "Nurses Make a Difference Banquet" at the D.D. and Velma Davis Education and Visitors Center in Mill Creek Park's Fellows Riverside Gardens.
Figures and causes
Stierle cited a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services showing a national shortage of 139,000 registered nurses this year and projecting that this will mushroom to a shortage of 808,000 by 2020. Nationally, there are 2.7 million active registered nurses.
The shortage is caused by a declining number of nursing schools; aging nursing-school faculties, whose members are retiring; the broad array of career choices for today's youth; and the public perception that nursing is too demanding a profession with insufficient upward-mobility potential, Stierle said.
Remedying the shortage requires "establishing the economic value" of the profession and ensuring adequate career-advancement opportunities for nurses, she said. "There needs to be an opportunity for people to be at the leadership table, to have direct input into decision-making that involves patients and quality of nursing care."
Linda Warino, executive director of ONA District 3, said the national average age of nurses is 47. The shortage will grow because of the forthcoming retirement of many nurses at a time when aging baby boomers will need more health care, she said.
Attracting young people
An important strategy for reducing the shortage is to educate middle-school pupils about what nursing has to offer as a career and what math, science and other courses pupils should take to prepare for nursing school, said Mada H. Janosik, a nursing instructor at Youngstown State University.
Janosik said she had spoken to about 60 middle-school pupils at Summit Academy at a career fair earlier Friday to educate them about the nursing profession, which she said offers rewarding job opportunities in the Mahoning Valley. Nurses with bachelor's degrees start their careers in local hospitals at about $40,000 a year, she said.