by Cindy Price

Directors of health care facilities in Louisville, KY, have come to a stark realization: Nurses, along with the bulk of the baby-boom generation, are aging. And the managers of these facilities also realize that if they don't do something now to counteract the trend of burned-out, older nurses leaving the profession, they, and the patients they serve, are going to be in big trouble.

But that's where innovation comes in. According to Business First of Louisville, at least two hospitals in the area are taking action to avert a future nursing crisis ("Aging worker issue likely to worsen nursing shortage," Aug. 23). For example, Norton Healthcare Inc., which oversees nursing issues for a system of seven Louisville-area acute-care facilities, recently surveyed its almost 3,000 nurses to find out how to better retain working nurses. And one big finding: Older nurses want a shorter work day.

"Age becomes an issue with 12-hour shifts," Bryan Hildreth, director of human resources at Norton Healthcare, told Business First. "As we get older, working those shifts becomes more difficult."

So, Norton is contemplating some creative solutions to the shortage. Among the options they are pondering: working full time with no weekends or letting nurses have summers off, similar to the academic schedule that teachers follow. Another idea is to let nurses work weekends only or going back to eight-hour shifts or even four-hour shifts in some cases.

At the same time, Floyd Memorial Hospital in New Albany, IN, and Jewish Hospital in Louisville, KY, are investigating the opposite end of the spectrum: students who may some day want to become nurses. To get students more interested in nursing as a career, Floyd is requiring that all managers conduct "grassroots" community education visits at junior high schools. In addition, Floyd Memorial is offering an extern program for junior-year nursing students, whereby students who work at the hospital to gain clinical nursing skills then have the option of transferring into an RN position when they graduate. Jewish Hospital staff and nurses, who are regularly encouraged to be "at the forefront of the community" in promoting nursing also regularly visit grade schools and high schools, and even Girl Scout camps.

"We all need to be proactive in recruiting people into nursing," said Pat Burge, vice president of patient services at Jewish Hospital.

To help get more nurses into the pipeline, the University of Central Florida (UCF) has fast-tracked its new nursing program. According to the Orlando Business Journal, people who have already earned a bachelor's degree will be eligible for a bachelor's degree in nursing in 15 months, rather than the usual two years ("UCF Creates New Nursing Program," July 12). Although Florida's nursing shortage situation has eased somewhat in the last year Ð as was evidenced by the 12.5 percent vacancy rate of nursing positions, down from last year's record high 15.6 percent Ð there is still a concern that the state will not be able to fulfill future demand for nurses. For example, the Florida Hospital Association, which released Florida's nurse vacancy rate figures, asserts the states still will need another 24,000 nurses by 2006 because of the high number of retirees who move to the state.

To help facilitate the program, the UCF board of trustees has allocated $500,000 in funding for the new program, which is slated to begin next summer.

In another move to boost student enrollments, the school also is considering offering its existing bachelor of science in nursing program twice a year, so that the school will be able to admit 120 students instead of the current 90.

Through the combined efforts, the school expects to increase its annual output of nurses by 67 percent.

Enabling employees to further their education while working is proving to be a good way of heading off a shortage of nurses for a hospital in Fort Worth, TX, according to the Dallas Business Journal ("Harris takes aim at nursing shortage," July 26). Known as Ladders in Nursing Careers, the program is providing financial support for school tuition, fees and books to employees of Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital. Funded by a $200,000 grant from Forth Worth's Amon G. Carter Foundation and administered through the Harris Methodist Health Foundation, the program also offers participating employees a full-time salary while working part time.

Although Harris Methodist does not currently have much of a nursing shortage, the overall shortage of nurses in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area is at 12.5 percent overall. "We are fortunate that our vacancy rate for nurses is low at just 3 percent," said Phyllis Norman, the hospital's vice president of patient care services. "But what we are doing is preparing for the future, given that the average age for nurses nationwide is 46."

The hospital's licensed vocational nurses, patient care technicians, certified surgical technicians and unit secretaries are eligible to apply for the program, and so far 18 employees have signed up.

Cindy Price is a senior public relations specialist at the ANA.