More faculty sought to train nurses

Utah's well-documented shortage of medical professionals, particularly nurses, has a solution.

"It's about hiring more faculty," said Maureen R. Keefe, chairwoman of the Utah Nursing Leadership Forum.

Easier said than done.

Utah's six colleges and universities that have nursing degree programs turn away 500 potential students each year because there's not enough state and private money to fund the faculty needed to teach nursing hopefuls.

"We need to look at this more seriously," Rep. Lou Shurtliff, D-Ogden, said Monday. "It's not going away. We're really going to be damaged by this."

Utah ranks third in the nation for the fewest nurses — 595 nurses per 100,000 population. Of the 17,544 registered nurses in Utah, only 13,257 live and work in Utah, according to the Legislative Fiscal Analyst's Office. Long-term care facilities are hit hardest by the shortage, estimated at around 1,000 nursing positions statewide.

Now, three years into a statewide nursing initiative, Keefe said she is encouraged by lawmakers who see an "alarming" need.

Rep. Patricia Jones, D-Cottonwood Heights, talked in terms of what could be done if at least a portion of the initiative were funded.

What has helped Utah's nursing shortage, Keefe added, is that hospitals and private industry have helped out with funding clinical faculty and scholarship programs.

"The state has cut our funding in the last two years and the hospital side has stepped up, but they can't be the only solution," she said.

The Nursing Leadership Forum is asking the Legislature for $6.6 million for this year. That money alone would yield 487 additional registered nurses and 35 more faculty. The Utah system of higher education has asked for about $2.7 million to fund the initiative.

The Legislative Fiscal Analyst's Office on Monday told the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee that another proposal would set up a medical education trust fund for nursing school applicants who are turned away. Money from that fund would be used to pay those people to get their nursing degrees out of state, as long as they commit to working in Utah.

It was also suggested that setting up a trust fund would benefit dental students from Utah if they, too, commit to working in Utah, which has no comprehensive dental programs.

Virtually every corner of the medical profession in Utah is affected by shortages, according to Gar Elison, executive director of the Utah Medical Education Council.

Elison identified in a report the following programs that need to expand to meet a growing shortage: obstetrics and gynecology, general surgery, anesthesiology, psychiatry, internal medicine, pediatrics and radiation oncology. Even pharmacists and laboratory workers are in short supply.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com