Jun 27, 2009 2:47 pm US/Eastern
Money Raised To Graduate More Nurses Before 2016
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
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As thousands of people across the state lose jobs in a sluggish economy, one industry has a need for workers.
As thousands of people across the state lose jobs in a sluggish economy, one industry has a need for workers. As
Gigi Barnett reports, hospitals need more nurses but many universities don't have the facilities to graduate them. A shortage won't be seen until 2016.
In the cardiac ward at Franklin Square Hospital, there are plenty of nurses but hospitals fear their numbers will soon drindle. The cause is two-fold.
"Our population is getting older. We have more and more people over 85 and they're the people that generally consume the most health care. At the same time, our nurse population is aging," said Catherine Crowley.
She is the vice president of the Maryland Hospital Association (MHA). She says 40% of nurses will be gun to retire around 2016. But the problem is not one of supply and demand.
"They're signing up in droves. In fact, they're signing up so many that we don't have enough seats in the classrooms for them to be able to be enrolled," Crowley said.
The health industry has some time before it sees a shortage of nurses so hospitals are turning to local universities to double the number of nurse graduates.
"That's a lot and it's almost kind of scary," said Denise Rogers, an RN at Franklin Square. "To know that we have a shortage--it's something that we need to address now."
So MHA launched a campaign to raise $60 million for more teachers, tutoring and training at nursing schools.
Rogers says increasing the number of nurses starts with education.
"I meet a lot of people who would like to go to nursing school but they don't have the staff there to actually teach them," Rogers said.
The money raised to graduate more nurses will be divided among 17 nursing schools in Maryland.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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