Facing a growing shortage of nurses, local hospitals have sought ways to keep nurses on staff and encourage other employees to enter the profession.
At the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, work force officials used an extensive employee survey to determine where and how to improve conditions, particularly for newer nurses.
“We saw the greatest number of people left within the first year. That’s why our efforts were focused on [retention],” said Kathy Paskewitz, a nurse recruiter and work force planning team member at GBMC.
Maryland’s nursing vacancy rate last year was higher than the national average, with 10 percent of positions left unfilled. The national vacancy rate was 8 percent in 2007, according to a survey released this week by the Maryland Hospital Association.
Although the vacancy rate has dropped from 2006, Maryland is still short 2,603 nurses, the association said.
“We have increased the supply, but the demand continues to grow,” said Jeanne DeCosmo, MHA’s work force director.
Maryland is predicted to be short 10,000 nurses in less than a decade, she said.
The aging population requires more medical services — at the same time many nurses are reaching retirement age, DeCosmo said.
Nursing schools are also low on teachers and clinical sites in which to teach.
GBMC’s vacancy rate was only 4.8 percent in June — a drop from 6.7 percent in April — thanks to intense research and planning, said Peggy Collier, the center’s director for work force planning.
To assist nurses struggling to transition from being student to professional, GBMC started a mentoring program and redesigned the orientation to better support inexperienced nurses.
The changes hinged on the employee survey, which officials said was critical for addressing the needs and improving employee satisfaction.
“We are really actively listening and doing something,” Paskewitz said.
At Franklin Square Hospital Center in Baltimore, officials have been working to create “a nurse-friendly environment,” where nurses feel professionally challenged and encouraged, said Vicki Krohn, the hospital’s nursing professional development coordinator.
The hospital also has formed a partnership with the Community College of Baltimore County, where the hospital provides faculty to teach a 24-student class.
Ten of the student spaces are reserved for Franklin Square employees — nurses aides and medical assistants, for example —- interested in becoming nurses who then return to the hospital to work.
“We are building them from within,” Krohn said.
