Recruitment & Retention

According to The Town Talk in Alexandria, LA, your chances of landing a job are greatly enhanced if you chose nursing, and live in Central Louisiana. Steve Scull, a hospital executive said that because of increasing number of patients needing care, especially critical care, nurses will always be in demand. “We're always recruiting nurses. You can't ever fill all the openings and needs you have.” This article is part of workforce outlook series on employment in Central Louisiana.

A more diverse nation needs a more diverse health care workforce, this according to a number of key black nurse leaders in this RWJF.com article. U.S. demographics have shifted considerably over the last ten years and experts project that racial minorities will represent the majority population by mid-century. Yet African Americans, Latinos and other minorities are vastly underrepresented in the nurse workforce.

NurseZone.com reports that with the passing of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, nursing students now have, in addition to private resources, federal dollars to support their education.

As states across the country continue to make difficult budget cut choices, Linda Tieman, RN, MN, FACHE, writes in the Clark County, WA, Columbia now is not the time for the state of Washington to compromise quality health care by making cuts to education programs. Tieman says that such cuts will dampen efforts to implement the solutions for nursing education capacity proposed in the Washington Center for Nursing’s [www.wacenterfornursing.org] Master Plan for Nursing Education, submitted to the Washington State Department of Health in 2008.

Thanks in part to $400,000 in donated services from Palomar Pomerado Health System and a federal grant, 30 student nurses at California State University San Marcos will find moving from the classroom to the hospital an easier transition. The grant funds  will provide student stipends and the hospital’s in-kind services will provide experienced nurse mentors for the students. Learn more.

Source: BLOG: RN Talk, Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The Commercial Appeal reports that the looming shortage predicted for the nursing profession by 2025 is still a relevant issue and that the current downtrend in employment rates is, at best, temporary.

Patty Genday is a proud nurse-mom of four nurse-daughters, all making a difference in the lives of Pittsburgh, PA, residents. And it all started at the dinner table where Genday would share with her daughters the “good and the bad of her nursing day,” and how it was important to her that her work made a difference in the lives of those she helped. Genday’s daughters, who were hospital volunteers while in high school, all received scholarships, and worked as patient care technicians at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center while in nursing school.