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Business Digest: Special panel studying nursing shortage in R.I.
A special commission created this year by the Rhode Island Senate has begun a comprehensive study of a projected nursing shortage, attempting to determine what actions are needed to ensure that the state’s nursing-education programs have the capacity to enroll and graduate a sufficient number of nurses to meet increasing demands.
Hospitals, long-term care facilities, home-health providers and physician’s offices in Rhode Island are continuing to report difficulties in recruiting, hiring and retaining qualified nurses, the commission said. Studies indicate that Rhode Island could face a shortage of up to 1,400 registered nurses in 2010 and almost 6,500 by 2020.
The resolution that created the commission outlined several factors that are believed to be driving the current and projected shortages. Those are: insufficient enrollment capacity at institutions offering nursing education programs; faculty shortages at those institutions; financial disincentives for nursing professionals to become educators; and increasing demands for personnel within the health-care industry.
At a recent organizational meeting of the commission, Sen. James E. Doyle II, D- Pawtucket, whose resolution created the panel, was elected chairman.
“It is critical to increase the number of qualified persons graduating from Rhode Island’s nursing-education programs, and convince those already working as nurses to remain in their jobs, in order to avert a critical shortage of nurses in the future,” said Doyle. “We need to provide nurses with the skills and training necessary to meet the increasingly complex level of care required by patients.”
Other members of the 15-person commission are: Sen. David E. Bates, R-Barrington; Sen. Daniel P. Connors, D-Cumberland; Sen. John J. Tassoni Jr., D-Smithfield; Donna Policastro, RN and executive director of the R.I. State Nurses Association; David Jasinski, executive director of Harbourside Pawtuxet Village; Linda McDonald, president of United Nurses & Allied Professionals; Pamela McCue, RN, MS, director of Nurse Registration & Nursing Education of the R.I. Advanced Practice Nurse Advisory Committee; Ruth Ricciarelli, executive director, Hospital Association of R.I.; Margaret Clifton, Community College of Rhode Island Department of Nursing; Dr. Lynne Dunphy, PhD, APRN, BC, professor of nursing and Routhier Chair of Practice at the URI College of Nursing; Dr. Jane Williams, dean of the school of nursing, Rhode Island College; Carol Ross, St. Joseph School of Nursing; Jack R. Warner, commissioner of the Office of Higher Education; and Dr. Peggy Matteson, RN, professor, Salve Regina University department of nursing.
The study commission is expected to report its findings and recommendation to the Senate by the end of next January.
This article is excerpted from the Providence Journal Business Digest, September 3, 2008.
Hospitals, long-term care facilities, home-health providers and physician’s offices in Rhode Island are continuing to report difficulties in recruiting, hiring and retaining qualified nurses, the commission said. Studies indicate that Rhode Island could face a shortage of up to 1,400 registered nurses in 2010 and almost 6,500 by 2020.
The resolution that created the commission outlined several factors that are believed to be driving the current and projected shortages. Those are: insufficient enrollment capacity at institutions offering nursing education programs; faculty shortages at those institutions; financial disincentives for nursing professionals to become educators; and increasing demands for personnel within the health-care industry.
At a recent organizational meeting of the commission, Sen. James E. Doyle II, D- Pawtucket, whose resolution created the panel, was elected chairman.
“It is critical to increase the number of qualified persons graduating from Rhode Island’s nursing-education programs, and convince those already working as nurses to remain in their jobs, in order to avert a critical shortage of nurses in the future,” said Doyle. “We need to provide nurses with the skills and training necessary to meet the increasingly complex level of care required by patients.”
Other members of the 15-person commission are: Sen. David E. Bates, R-Barrington; Sen. Daniel P. Connors, D-Cumberland; Sen. John J. Tassoni Jr., D-Smithfield; Donna Policastro, RN and executive director of the R.I. State Nurses Association; David Jasinski, executive director of Harbourside Pawtuxet Village; Linda McDonald, president of United Nurses & Allied Professionals; Pamela McCue, RN, MS, director of Nurse Registration & Nursing Education of the R.I. Advanced Practice Nurse Advisory Committee; Ruth Ricciarelli, executive director, Hospital Association of R.I.; Margaret Clifton, Community College of Rhode Island Department of Nursing; Dr. Lynne Dunphy, PhD, APRN, BC, professor of nursing and Routhier Chair of Practice at the URI College of Nursing; Dr. Jane Williams, dean of the school of nursing, Rhode Island College; Carol Ross, St. Joseph School of Nursing; Jack R. Warner, commissioner of the Office of Higher Education; and Dr. Peggy Matteson, RN, professor, Salve Regina University department of nursing.
The study commission is expected to report its findings and recommendation to the Senate by the end of next January.
This article is excerpted from the Providence Journal Business Digest, September 3, 2008.
Business Digest, September 3, 2008