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According to the UVA School of Nursing, by 2014 more than 1.2 million nurses will be needed in hospitals all over the country. With this issue, nurses are not the only hunted profession, their teachers, too, are requested.
At the UVA Medical Center, nurses were pressured by the shortage, and hospital officials stated that it could be worse. UVA don’t really have a shortage according to Dr. Pamela Cipriano, UVA’s Health System’s chief clinical officer and chief nursing officer. They may have some areas where they are still recruiting, but they feel very fortunate to have staffing in all of their areas. There are currently 164 nursing vacancies in UVA Hospital that, when filled, would join the 2,040 registered nurses and 110 licensed practical nurses already working. The major concern of hospital officials is to keep the ones they already have. The hospital offers competitive benefits package to attract nurses. This package includes an on-site child care center, sign-on bonuses based from the specialization of a nurse. Traveller nurses are being called when there is urgent need for backup.
Maria Carlton, a special project manager for Dr. Cipriano said that they guarantee some new graduates about the salary raise and advancement on the job unit. These are rewards given to them for staying. UVA Hospital hired 275 nurses in 2007, 119 of them were new graduates. To reduce the nursing gap nursing schools will have to increase the number of graduates about 90 percent as estimated by Health Resources and Services Administration. The increasing number of graduates at UVA resulted to an increase in the number of faculty. According to Dory Hulse, director of communication for the School of Nursing, 10 additional faculties will increase their enrolment. The average number of faculty member is higher than the average number of clinical nurse. A faculty retires due to insignificant rate. Insufficient money is the first problem in recruiting faculty. Because of the scarcity in the nursing field, clinicians earn more, but the academe is not able to keep up. In a study in 2008, the starting salary of a nursing faculty is $50,000, while the newly graduate nurse is only $43,804. The second problem in the recruitment of faculty is credentials. The applicants must have earned various degrees on their field of expertise. [via] |
