Though the United States is facing a nursing shortage that some
estimate could swell to 800,000 by 2020, officials say the UCLA
Medical Center has not faced the same difficulties in filling
vacancies.
California is ranked last out of all 50 states in the number of
registered nurses per 100,000 people, according to the California
Health Care Association, and with a growing and aging population,
the need for nurses is ever-increasing.
But the vacancy rate for nurses at the UCLA Medical Center is
between 2 percent and 5 percent, compared to an average of 15
percent in the L.A. area and 10 to 15 percent nationwide, said
Robin Ludewig, director of recruitment for the UCLA Medical Center
and the David Geffen School of Medicine.
In some markets, the vacancy rate is as high as 20 percent, she
added.
The national nursing shortage ““ which has hit California
especially hard ““ has been caused by the combined effect of
too little space in nursing programs and too few faculty to train
new nurses.
But the well-established national recruiting, the attraction of
the UCLA name, and medical center programs that aim to draw recent
graduates has kept UCLA’s nursing shortage to a minimum.
UCLA has a one-year program for new nursing graduates to
practice at the medical center, and four years ago a summer
residency program was instituted for nursing students with a
four-year degree.
A large number of participating students from both programs
return to the medical center to work after their program ends.
The prestige and quality of the UCLA Medical Center also helps
to attract nurses, said Heidi Crooks, senior associate director of
operations and patient care service at the medical center.
While UCLA is less affected by the shortage than most other
L.A.-area hospitals, it has still been making an effort to increase
its nursing staff.
As part of its effort, it recently announced the reopening of
the undergraduate nursing program and a new master’s program
in clinical nursing.
The shortage of nurses comes mainly from a lack of space in
nursing programs. About 5,500 to 5,600 nurses graduate from
programs in California each year, about half the number of nurses
the state needs.
California hospitals bring the rest from out of state. Many come
from the Philippines and elsewhere in Asia, said Claudia Rosenfeld,
former vice president of human resources for the Hospital
Association of Southern California.
The nursing shortage is not only a problem in the U.S., but
around the world. Nations such as the Philippines also face a
shortage because Pilipino nurses are moving to the United States,
where the pay is better, Rosenfeld said.
Nursing programs often have waiting lists because they cannot
accommodate the number of students interested in nursing.
While many want to enter the field, only “one-third of
qualified applicants get in,” Crooks said.
California nursing programs are estimated to have between 3,500
and 5,000 prospective students on waiting lists, and students
admitted into programs from the waiting lists are often selected
through a lottery, causing some of the best and brightest to drop
off the list, Rosenfeld said.
Some of these students leave the state to study nursing, and
Crooks said recruiters from the UCLA Medical Center often find
California students attending out-of-state schools because they
cannot enter California programs.
Rosenfeld said nursing programs are some of the most costly
programs for schools, especially since it is required that the
student-to-faculty ratio in nursing be 12 to 1.
To add to the educational difficulties, about one-third of
nursing faculty in California are due to retire in the next five
years, but there are not enough qualified teachers to fill their
places, Rosenfeld said.
About 70 percent of the nurses in California hold associate
degrees, but nurses also need a master’s and doctorate in
order to teach.
Also, the pay for nursing faculty can be half the pay of a nurse
with an associate degree, making nursing a more appealing choice
than teaching, Rosenfeld said.
Under current pay practices, a nurse working 12-hour shifts,
with overtime and night-shift pay, can earn $100,000 a year, while
it is not uncommon for nursing school faculty to earn half that
amount.
“Neither the state or the federal government has put money
into increasing the number of nursing programs or nursing
students,” Rosenfeld said.
However, state funding may increase if the Tobacco Tax
Initiative passes on the state ballot in November.
If passed, the measure would increase the tax on a pack of
cigarettes by $2.60, and part of the revenue would go to nurse
education, according to a press release from the 100% Campaign,
which is advocating the initiative.