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America continues to have nursing shortage by Gail W. Stuart, Ph.D., R.N. Dean and Professor, College of Nursing What will it take to keep patients safe? The answer is a nurse by each patient’s bedside. A nurse who spends more time with a patient than anyone else in the hospital. A nurse who notices the grimace on a patient’s face and asks if they are having pain. A nurse who detects the subtle color change in a patient’s cheeks and “goes into action” assessing vital aspects of care. A nurse who double checks the nameband on a patient’s wrist to make sure they’re getting the right medicine, at the right time, at the right dose. A nurse whose work is often invisible, but whose actions prevent very visible problems.   For all these reasons, nurses are often referred to as the patient’s safety net. And we all know too well what happens when safety nets disappear—problems mount with serious and sometimes life-threatening consequences.   A new report released by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) entitled “Deadly Consequences: The Hidden Impact of America’s Nursing Shortage” is a review of the medical literature on the shortage. It cites a number of studies including one by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on surgery patients, which found that increasing a nurse’s workload from four to eight patients could be accompanied by a 31 percent increase in patient mortality. The study concluded that “a substantial decrease in mortality rates could result from increasing registered nurse staffing, especially for patients who develop complications.”   In the words of the executive director of NFAP, “It’s simple: Not enough nurses means bad patient outcomes. Nurses make a great difference in preventing infection, illness and death, and public policy needs to ensure there are enough of them.”   So why are we so complacent when it comes to addressing the nursing shortage in South Carolina? Government, hospital and professional health groups are documenting that there is no end in sight to the nursing shortage.   The recent article in The Post and Courier (Oct. 21) by Diane Knich focused on some of the critical issues fueling the nursing shortage. These include the growing numbers of people who are living longer, but who need health care to manage chronic illnesses, the aging nursing workforce who will be retiring in increasing numbers, and the fact that we are turning away qualified nursing school applicants because we don’t have enough nursing faculty to teach them.   Turning this shortage around is not rocket science. In fact, our society is placing a growing emphasis on safety in the air, safety on our streets, and safety in our schools. So why are we not mounting a campaign for safety in our health care settings.   In fact, some of us are. Last year all of the nursing leaders in South Carolina came together to develop a plan to tackle the growing nursing shortage in our state; part of this plan was to request dedicated dollars. More than 40 other states have taken such an approach that has resulted in millions of dollars directed to their nursing shortages.   As a result of this effort, last year our state passed a bill entitled The Critical Needs Nursing Initiative legislation. But it was funded at 1/12 of the amount requested. So I guess we will get 1/12 of the safety needed in health care.   This year, the nursing leaders will go back to make the case for patient safety once again. With your help we hope to receive the funding needed to turn around our state’s nursing shortage. Please contact your legislators and tell them that the Critical Needs Nursing Initiative needs full funding. Their lives and your own may very well depend upon it.     Friday, Nov. 9, 2007 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.