Experts say state nursing shortage will get worse
MERIDEN, Conn. --A nursing school diploma is as good as a paycheck these days. About 90 percent of nursing students already have a job lined up before graduation, and experts say they'll be plenty more spots available each year.
And that's the problem.
The nursing shortage, a national dilemma, is expected to hit Connecticut hard.
"Yes, we're going to be in some serious trouble," said Liz Beaudin, director of nursing and workforce initiative at the Connecticut Hospital Association.
In four years, Connecticut is expected to be short 11,100 registered nurses, which means most hospitals could be down by more than 200 nurses, the Record-Journal reported Sunday. By 2020, the deficit will more than double.
Nationally, the state ranks next to last, ahead of Alaska, in educating new nurses and already has the fewest registered nurses per state resident in all of New England. The average age of nurses is 48, which means that many will be looking to retire just at the time when baby boom generation reaches the age that demands more medical care.
"In 15 years, 50 percent of all nurses are expected to retire," said David W. DeLong, a Concord, Mass.-based researcher and author "Lost Knowledge: Confronting the Threat of an Aging Workforce."
Over the past two years Connecticut's 18 nursing schools turned away more than 2,000 applicants because there aren't enough people around to teach them. The more lucrative jobs for nursing experts are in medical centers, not schools.
"Our stars are aligned for the worst possible scenario -- and no one is listening," said Marcia B. Proto, executive director of the Wallingford-based Connecticut League for Nursing.
She's hoping to draw attention to the nursing shortage by offering a statewide conference in September, titled "The Nursing Workforce Crisis and its Financial Impact on Connecticut." Proto intends to invite not just hospital leaders, but lawmakers and members of the business community.
Hospitals around the state are trying to find creative ways to attractive, retain and train nurses. Among the concerns is as older nurses retire, how to pass down that practical and special expertise to the new generations.
"The cost of turnover is incredible," said Linda Berger Spivack, vice president for patient care services at MidState Medical Center in Meriden.
Spivack started an internship program at MidState a few years ago to give nursing students hands-on experience. It also gives the hospital a chance to evaluate and train potential employees.
It worked for 23-year-old Jenn Treen. She did an internship at MidState then had a job waiting for her there when she graduating from nursing school at Quinnipiac.
"I knew I wanted to come back here because I already knew what it was like here," said Treen, now a registered nurse at MidState. "I kind of already had my foot in the door, too."
Experts agree the solutions to the nursing shortage aren't simple ones, but it is critical that the medical community and the state not wait much longer.
"If we can do the right things now, then, come 2020, it may be a daunting challenge, but we'll have a chance of fixing it," said Beaudin, of the Connecticut Hospital Association.
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Information from: Record-Journal, http://www.record-journal.com
