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News specialist Shelley Osterloh reporting
Utah's colleges and universities got some help today in an effort to address a national nursing shortage.
Intermountain Health Care announced new programs and donations, valued at about $2 million, to help the state's schools prepare more nurses and other health professionals.
The nationwide nursing shortage has gone from acute to critical, and according to the Utah Nurses Association, Utah has the third most severe shortage in the country.
But ironically, there are many applicants to Utah's nursing schools who are turned away.
Why, when there is a shortage of nurses, don't medical institutions just recruit more nursing students?
"I regret to inform you that we at Weber State turn away about 500 qualified applicants every year, which is criminal when we are so short of it," says Lydia Wingate, dean of the Dumke College of Health Professionals at Weber State University.
There is shortage of faculty to train students, and because professional accreditation standards require one faculty member to every 12 students, educators can't just make classes bigger.
"So our problem is that we need funding to increase our faculty and then that way we can increase the number of applicants. We can accept more applicants into our program, and then we can increase the number of nurses we are preparing," Wingate says.
So to add more teachers, Intermountain Health Care announced it will donate about $2 million to nursing and medical training programs at Salt Lake Community College, Utah Valley State College, Weber State University, the University of Utah, Brigham Young University and Dixie State College.
Educators say it will help.
"So we will take some of our clinical specialists that are already masters prepared, ask them to consider a blended role creating more partnerships, where they are actually teaching in the colleges as well as serving in industry," says Dr. Maureen Keefe, dean of the University of Utah College of Nursing.
To ensure that patient care is not compromised, hospitals pay nurses overtime and use agency nurses. But that kind of care is expensive and stressful to overworked nurses.
And while IHC's donation will help, educators and professionals say it is not enough.
They have asked the state legislature for $6.5 million for the state's nursing education programs.
"What we need is for the legislators to come forth -- and I realize they have many things they have to fund, I realize we are not the only people here -- but I'm concerned about the critical need of nurses and health care professionals," Wingate says.
The nursing shortage is having a profound effect on the quality of health care in Utah.
