Still a nurse shortage, but funds helping

Nurses in Utah are still in short supply, but gains have been made since legislators approved funding to address the shortage earlier this year, members of the Health and Human Services Interim Committee learned Wednesday.

State colleges and universities have hired eight new faculty members and accepted 100 new nursing students since they began receiving funds in July, said David Gessel, vice president of government relations with the Utah Hospitals and Health Systems Association.

The hospital association has pledged $1 million per year over the next five years to help alleviate the nursing shortage. Lawmakers in the 2005 legislative session agreed to match the amount with $2 million — $1.3 million in ongoing funds, $500,000 in one-time funding and $200,000 to applied technology centers.

Gessel on Wednesday asked lawmakers to appropriate the same amount in the upcoming session but asked that the $500,000 be switched to ongoing funds.

"This isn't a one-time deal" he said, noting that the entire country, not just Utah, has had a "severe workforce shortage" for the past five years.

The money is intended to be used in existing nursing programs in state institutions, and largely to hire new faculty.

"In Utah, the problem isn't the students not wanting to be nurses, it's (not) having the faculty to teach them," Gessel said.

According to the Utah Medical Education Council, the state has 18,000 licenced registered nurses and about 14,500 of those are actively working.

Sixty-one percent of those are 40 years or older, adding to concerns about the state of the workforce once that group retires.

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E-mail: awelling@desnews.com