New Legislation Tackles the Nursing Shortage

We’ve all done it. Some issue that has caused us to fret, fuss and fume for awhile, results in the frustration bubbling to the surface and, then, whoosh!, it all spews out like a geyser. That happened to me recently when, after being hit with statistic after statistic supporting the reality of the nursing shortage, I realized that hardly anyone outside the medical realm was talking about it. The public should be really concerned about this, I thought. Why aren’t all health care consumers as outraged (and worried) as I am?

I arbitrarily decided it was due to a lack of publicity that focused on the problem. The public isn't complaining because the public doesn’t know about it. I was particularly up in arms over the fact that public policy gurus and our government haven’t put a plan in place to infuse the nursing workforce with new talent. I continue to believe that the media could do more and that Washington should do what they should’ve been doing for more than a decade—appropriating funds to beef up our nursing programs, increase wages for nursing educators and promote nursing as a career in order to attract more instructors and students.

But, as so often happens, as soon as I spouted off about something needing to be done—and posting it on the Internet—I learned that there has been some recent legislative action aimed at the nurse shortage problem. I’m not in total agreement with some of it, but I at least know that the legislature is aware that there’s a problem. I had been wondering.

The Nurses Bill (HR 5924), passed in early August, authorizes 20,000 visas per year to bring foreign-trained nurses into the U.S. The nationwide shortage of nurses currently stands at upwards of 115,000 and, according to information supporting this bill, is projected to be a shortage of one million by 2020. That number is double the largest projection I have heretofore heard. And, I thought I was tense when I heard the number would be 500,000!

There is a good bit of controversy concerning the utilization of foreign nurses. The objections include the (perceived) lack in quality of education and skills those nurses bring with them and that their leaving their home countries puts that country in a situation of having its own shortage.

More encouraging is the portion of the bill that authorizes grants to U.S. nursing schools to increase their enrollment and create new training programs. The amount of money directed to these grants, however, is unknown to me, so I’m not yet certain just how excited I should be.

I am also pleased to learn that the governor of Michigan has addressed the nurse shortage on a regional level. Last week she signed into law a bill that directs $1.5 million to partnerships between 10 hospitals and 10 colleges of nursing for the express purpose of increasing the numbers of nurse educators. As in many areas of the country, Michigan’s nursing schools have long wait lists due to inadequate numbers of nursing faculty. The funds will be specifically used to put nurses without degrees into accelerated degree programs as a means of expanding the force of clinical nursing instructors. It is projected that the program will produce 42,000 nursing graduates over a period of five years.

I am still of the opinion that enough is not being done on a federal level. But, something is being done and I suppose I should be grateful for small advances.

Are positive steps being taken in your state that would help put my mind at ease? If so, please report what’s going on there.