Titus Touts Plan To Fight Shortage Of Nurses
Titus Touts Plan To Fight Shortage Of Nurses
May 11, 2006
Democratic gubernatorial front-runner Dina Titus acknowledged National Nurses Week today by reaffirming her commitment to fix Nevada's nursing shortage through the creation of innovative education and retention programs and by addressing the unsafe nurse-patient ratio that exists in many Nevada hospitals.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Nevada ranks last among states in the number of nurses per capita, with just 517 per 100,000 residentsless than half the ratio in the leading state, Massachusetts. And both the senior and the general population of Nevada are expected to continue to grow rapidly.
"Once again, Nevada is at the bottom of a list of quality-of-life indicators," Titus said. "We need to address this critical issue and pump new life into Nevada's health care system by offering incentives for nurses to go to school and stay here after they graduate."
Titus proposed a tuition loan program for Nevada's college and university nursing students. After graduation, if they stay in Nevada to practice their profession, the amount of a year's loan would be forgiven for each year of service. If the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents supports Titus' proposal, the loan program would be funded by increasing Nevada institutions' out-of-state tuition, currently among the lowest in the country, and through public-private partnerships.
"We also need to keep nurses in the profession," Titus said. "Based on a 2005 UNLV study by Bowles and Candala, 30 percent of nurses in Nevada hospitals leave the profession within one year and 57 percent leave within two years. When asked why, nurses said it was because of unsafe staffing ratios. They feel they are unable to perform their duties adequately, thereby putting patients at risk."
To address this, Titus feels hospitals must implement staffing ratios similar to the ones adopted recently at St. Rose.
"This is essential for maintaining the quality of care Nevada patients expect and deserve." Titus said. "Nurses are the backbone of a healthy community. As governor, I will not sit idly by and watch the number of quality health care providers dwindle while the number of those in need increases."
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