U.S. nursing shortage
Published February 28th, 2006
Demand for nurses is expected to top a million by 2012, leading the U.S. Department of Labor to list registered nursing as the top growing profession.
In West Virginia, there also is a need to find younger nurses because of the state’s large population of aging nurses, said Duane Napier, executive director for the West Virginia Center for Nursing.
“One-third of the nursing workforce is over 50,” Napier said. “In registered nurses overall, less than 12 percent are under age 30.”
According to the Nursing Shortage Study Commission’s 2004 report, West Virginia will need at least 318 new registered nurses a year for the next eight years to meet statewide needs.
There were 15,468 registered nurses working in West Virginia as of June 30, 2005, according to the West Virginia Registered Nursing Board.
To meet the need in West Virginia, colleges have expanded their enrollment in recent years. Last fall, there were 3,033 registered nursing students enrolled in public and private colleges, that’s up from 1,178 from the 2001-2002 school year, according to the nursing report.
Napier said the key to eliminating the nursing shortage statewide is to attract more young people and minorities. Many nursing schools are conducting career fairs and health fairs each year, he said, but he still sees a need for more.
“What we really need to do with all that is be more aggressive,” Napier said. “Every nurse should be the ambassador to their profession.”
Lindsay Clark, a junior at Marshall University, already works 40 plus hours a week in the classroom and makes rounds at a local hospital.
“I went into nursing because I liked the idea of being able to get a job easily after school,” Clark said. “Some of my professors have talked about a shortage of nurses in the state, so I knew going into this it would be easy to get a job.”
Salary also is an issue in the state when it comes to keeping local nursing graduates close to home. According to the Center for Nursing, in 2002, the annual average salary for West Virginia RNs was $41,800. However, a graduate could easily cross the state border and find a hefty salary increase.
In Kentucky, the average salary is $43,750. Ohio is $46,810, and Maryland is $60,320. The national average is $49,840.
Related Articles MGR Medical University will conduct job fairsPearson Wins First Place Awards in NY Book Show
