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Because of a shortage in the number of nurses at the University Hospital, one to two patients with non-emergency illnesses and injuries are being turned away on average each day and told to try back later.
"It's a bad situation, but this isn't just an exclusive problem at the University," Nursing School Dean Jeanette Lancaster said. "There is a worldwide shortage in the number of available nurses."
Unfortunately, misery is not enjoying company right now.
"The fact that everyone is looking for nurses is compounding the problem," Lancaster said. "It means we need to try even harder to attract potential applicants" to the Nursing School.
The lack of qualified nurses stems from various problems.
Pamela Cipriano, chief clinical officer at the University Hospital, cited the growing age of both the nursing population and the rest of the world as part of the predicament.
"As nurses grow older, they tend to retire or work less, which adds to the shortage," Cipriano said. "And as the rest of the world ages, more people end up needing health care, stretching the available care thinner."
However, the biggest problem is the fact that entrants into nursing schools everywhere have decreased over the past few years.
"We need to figure out a way to attract more people into nursing," Lancaster said. "The only way to solve this shortage problem is to get more nurses."
One solution Lancaster has put forth is building an addition to the Nursing School. Earlier this year, she proposed an expansion of the Nursing School to the Board of Visitors.
"Outstanding facilities are a must when attracting prospective students," she said.
However, any new expansion will take at least three years to come to fruition.
The University also is trying to recruit more nursing students from underrepresented groups: men and minorities.
They "are the people who usually work longer hours for more years of their lives," Lancaster said. "We already have superb men and minorities as part of our current faculty, but we're really beginning to step up our focus on their recruitment."
With all this effort being put into recruiting new nurses, Cipriano said University officials must not neglect efforts to maintain the staff they now have.
"We need new nurses, but we can't afford to lose the ones we have," she said. "We must make an effort to retain our very qualified staff by making sure they are satisfied"
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