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news:
California last
in nurses
By Andres Cardenas
Summer Forty-Niner
California currently
ranks last in the nation in its number of nurses, with one
nurse for every 200 people.
"We have a
greater crisis in nursing than we have in teaching,"
said Kay McVay, president of the California Nurses Association.
"People don't understand that it is a crisis. People
are dying, you don't get the care that you need and there
is no way to ensure that you will at this point."
The nursing shortage
is also reflected in the numbers of students applying as nursing
majors. Cal State Long Beach nursing department Chairwoman
Loucine Huckabay said that several years ago 150 students
would apply for the 36 open spots per semester. This year,
only 80 are applying. Many qualified students move on to other
professions due to the wait to get in.
"We have people
that have been waiting for five years" to get into the
major, McVay said. "Of course they are going to find
something else to do with their life. Why wouldn't they?"
CSULB is trying
to find ways to increase enrollment.
"We would
like to double our basic enrollment from 36 to 72," Huckabay
said. "We are appealing to different hospitals to help
use budget for faculty."
If the enrollment
doubles, 15 additional faculty members would be needed to
teach. There are 28 now.
However expanding
the nursing program is expensive since more teachers are needed
to run the program. Huckabay said that five full-time teachers
are needed for every 12 students enrolled in the program.
While the nursing
department is one of the few academic departments on campus
that spends more than $1 million, it is still not enough.
"The problem
we have a Cal State Long Beach is that we don't have the budget
to educate the people," Huckabay said.
Another problem
is the lack of classrooms within the nursing department. Huckabay
said there are only four classes in the nursing department
-- not enough if the department wants to expand.
"We are proposing
to double our enrollment if we can find funding and a place
to put [the students]," Huckabay said.
Nursing received
another setback when USC announced that it would be closing
its undergraduate program to focus its attention on the graduate
program. About 100 students graduate a year, and now only
350 students are left in the program. UCLA and Stanford have
also closed their nursing programs.
USC's decision
to close its nursing department does not make sense to McVay.
"Here we are
trying to increase the number of nurses and they are going
to close the school of nursing," McVay said.
The nursing shortage
began in the 1980s with the advancement of new technology
that did not require as many nurses at patients' bedsides.
The trend continued into the 90s. Nurses that have stayed
are now given mandatory overtime, 10 or more patients, and
shifts of 16 or hours or more.
"People have
to realize that nursing is a very, very physically demanding
work as well as a mentally demanding profession," McVay
said. "You try turning a 300-pound-plus patient around
in bed and moving them around ... and many people don't want
to do that."
To make matters
worse, nurses that have just graduated from college are taking
on roles too advanced to them, McVay said.
"Brand new
[registered nurse] graduates that have passed the board, come
on board, work for six months, and are the senior person,"
McVay said. "More than 20 percent of new graduates are
leaving the profession within a year, and sometimes it gets
up to 50 percent in the second year."
Nurses that leave
are moving on to better places, where they can earn a better
wage, McVay said.
CSULB has about
525 graduate and undergraduate students enrolled as nursing
students. A total of 36 students are accepted each semester
as undergraduates.
There are two bachelor's
of science nursing programs at CSULB. First-time college students
can be accepted into the program as sophomores. The program,
called bachelor's of science in nursing, also known as BSN,
takes three years to complete.
Transfer students
who have already graduated from community college, and are
already registered nurses, can complete the BSN in only two
years in a process called RN-to-BSN. Students in related fields
are also accepted, Huckabay said.
Once accepted into
the program, the student must stay with the recently accepted
students.
"The reason
for that is at the basic level we do not have part-time [students],
they have to go full-time," Huckabay said.
"The curriculum
is...sequenced in such a way that it goes from the simple
to the complex; one course is a prerequisite for another one."
The 36 students
are sectioned off into groups of 12 and are sent to learn
in the hospital environment. These groups will learn and practice
under the instructor's license. The state board of registered
nurses mandates that there be no more than 12 students per
faculty member in a clinical area.
Nursing teachers
are also in short supply, Huckabay said. To teach nursing,
a master's of science is required. If the teacher wants a
future in teaching, they would need a doctorate, and only
two percent of nurses have one.
Recently the CSULB
nursing department has formed an advisory committee to discuss
how to attack the nursing shortage. Four recommendations were
made, based upon the committee's findings.
The first was to
increase the number of students entering both the BSN and
RN-to-BSN programs.
Second, the advisory
committee recommended an increase in the number of faculty.
The third recommendation
suggested adding a second story to the nursing department
or to build a new building. A floor addition would cost $7
million, while a new building would cost $11 million, Huckabay
said.
Finally, the committee
plans to hold a major conference at CSULB in January to address
the nursing shortage issue. The purpose of the conference
is to inform the public of the shortage and to build community
support for the nursing program.
McVay said the
solution to the nursing problem is simple: hospital administrators
must realize the value of nurses in hospitals. "Nurses
really do care for patients," McVay said, "and should
be respected for that."
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