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Community seeks ways to deal with nurse shortages
by Dennis Fujimoto - The Garden Island
Kaua‘i will be facing the national nursing shortages which will be increasing over the next 10 years, said Virginia Beck of the Kaua‘i Veterans Memorial Hospital Foundation.
Sharon Chiba, a counselor with the Kaua‘i Community College, agreed, pointing to a study done by The Hawai‘i State Center for Nursing which states “the current supply and demand estimates continue to indicate that there will be a growing shortage of registered nurses over the next 15 years.”
The Nursing Research report which was done in late 2004, states “It is important to recognize that, at risk, is more than a shortage of workers. A shortage of RNs means a shortage of quality health care for the people of Hawai‘i.”
The shortage is considered by the Hawai‘i State Center for Nursing Research to be “different” than other shortages because it is a result, not of market dynamics, but an unprecedented demographic shift towards an older population.
Hawai‘i is on the cusp of this “senior boom,” the report states. Hawai‘i’s population is aging twice as fast as the rest of the country, and between 2000 and 2020, the number of people age 60 and older living in Hawai‘i will increase by almost 75 percent, the report states.
The report states that Hawai‘i has a shortage of RNs which is expected to quadruple in size by 2020, and recommends that efforts to address the shortage should focus on increasing nursing supply.
To combat this situation, Beck, who noted that Hawai‘i imports about 30 percent of our nurses, pledged to donate $1,000 every year for as long as she lives to help fund programs to help nursing students. She further challenges other individuals to make the same commitment.
Chiba said, “The cyclical nursing shortage is beginning again with severe shortages being felt particularly in the nursing specialty areas. This shortage is increasing over many sections of the Mainland to crisis proportions now and is predicted to seriously impact our state soon.”
Beck, in her e-mail, noted that there is, currently, about 180,000 nursing positions short, nationally.
Chiba said to try and maintain our quality workforce on Kaua‘i, we need to help each student entering the KCC program to have the highest chance for success and licensure.
Recently, the KVMH Foundation presented two Patricia L. Beck Scholarships to nursing students at KCC.
The scholarships are in honor of Virginia’s mom who was a paramedic on ambulances in London, England, during the blitz of Adolf Hitler’s daily bombings.
“Many of our students are single parents, or students who are returning to school to better their lives, and accordingly, face financial hardships to do so,” Chiba said in an e-mail.
“Nursing school is a full time endeavor so the student is not available to work except at a minimal level.”
But during the time the student works through the nursing curriculum, families, bills and other necessities of life don’t fade away, Chiba said.
“Often the deciding factor between success and failure is the ability for the student to support themselves and family,” Chiba said. “Scholarship support from the Kaua‘i community often makes the difference.”
Chiba said both the Rotary Club of Kaua‘i and the Rotary Club of Hanalei Bay will also be presenting scholarships to nursing students later this month.
For more information, visit the Hawai‘i State Center for Nursing Research Web site at www.hinursing.org.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com
Sharon Chiba, a counselor with the Kaua‘i Community College, agreed, pointing to a study done by The Hawai‘i State Center for Nursing which states “the current supply and demand estimates continue to indicate that there will be a growing shortage of registered nurses over the next 15 years.”
The Nursing Research report which was done in late 2004, states “It is important to recognize that, at risk, is more than a shortage of workers. A shortage of RNs means a shortage of quality health care for the people of Hawai‘i.”
The shortage is considered by the Hawai‘i State Center for Nursing Research to be “different” than other shortages because it is a result, not of market dynamics, but an unprecedented demographic shift towards an older population.
Hawai‘i is on the cusp of this “senior boom,” the report states. Hawai‘i’s population is aging twice as fast as the rest of the country, and between 2000 and 2020, the number of people age 60 and older living in Hawai‘i will increase by almost 75 percent, the report states.
The report states that Hawai‘i has a shortage of RNs which is expected to quadruple in size by 2020, and recommends that efforts to address the shortage should focus on increasing nursing supply.
To combat this situation, Beck, who noted that Hawai‘i imports about 30 percent of our nurses, pledged to donate $1,000 every year for as long as she lives to help fund programs to help nursing students. She further challenges other individuals to make the same commitment.
Chiba said, “The cyclical nursing shortage is beginning again with severe shortages being felt particularly in the nursing specialty areas. This shortage is increasing over many sections of the Mainland to crisis proportions now and is predicted to seriously impact our state soon.”
Beck, in her e-mail, noted that there is, currently, about 180,000 nursing positions short, nationally.
Chiba said to try and maintain our quality workforce on Kaua‘i, we need to help each student entering the KCC program to have the highest chance for success and licensure.
Recently, the KVMH Foundation presented two Patricia L. Beck Scholarships to nursing students at KCC.
The scholarships are in honor of Virginia’s mom who was a paramedic on ambulances in London, England, during the blitz of Adolf Hitler’s daily bombings.
“Many of our students are single parents, or students who are returning to school to better their lives, and accordingly, face financial hardships to do so,” Chiba said in an e-mail.
“Nursing school is a full time endeavor so the student is not available to work except at a minimal level.”
But during the time the student works through the nursing curriculum, families, bills and other necessities of life don’t fade away, Chiba said.
“Often the deciding factor between success and failure is the ability for the student to support themselves and family,” Chiba said. “Scholarship support from the Kaua‘i community often makes the difference.”
Chiba said both the Rotary Club of Kaua‘i and the Rotary Club of Hanalei Bay will also be presenting scholarships to nursing students later this month.
For more information, visit the Hawai‘i State Center for Nursing Research Web site at www.hinursing.org.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com
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puput wrote on Apr 3, 2009 10:19 AM: