Two Toledo medical giants say they’re teaming up for an initiative they hope will give nursing — a profession experts say is experiencing shortages and expanding work requirements — a shot in the arm locally.
“We have a huge nursing shortage,” said Linda Lewandowski, the dean of the University of Toledo’s College of Nursing. “We need to raise more awareness for the different ways nursing contributes to our health care system.”
To do so, UT and ProMedica are launching the Nursing Now Northwest Ohio campaign, which aims to improve healthcare “by raising the status and profile of nursing,” according to a news release. The Nursing Now campaign is a global initiative spearheaded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing, the World Health Organization, and the International Council on Nursing, in which local groups focus on “encouraging investment in the nursing workforce.” The campaign runs until 2020, which the WHO board has deemed the “Year of the Nurse and the Midwife,” and concludes in May on the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, an early pioneer for the profession.
On Thursday, UT and ProMedica are hosting a kickoff event to announce the initiative.
“This is something I heard about in nursing circles,” Ms. Lewandowski said of the campaign, “and I just thought we need to take this leadership to northwest Ohio.”
Deana Sievert, the chief nursing officer of ProMedica, added in a statement Wednesday that the profession needs additional support due to the consistent growth of its increasing contributions to patients.
“We must fully recognize nursing’s vital role in improving health and well-being in our communities and develop policies that support the profession,” she said. “Nursing Now focuses on developing and investing in nurses while raising the profile and status of the profession.”
According to a 2018 report from the American Nurses Association, nursing will have more available jobs than any other profession in the country by 2022. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts it will need 1.1 million new registered nurses due to the anticipation that more than 500,000 RNs will retire by 2022.
In Ohio, nurse practitioners have 230 annual statewide openings, with 28 openings coming specifically from the northwest region, according to data from the state’s employment website, OhioMeansJobs. For nursing assistants, the number of annual statewide openings jumps to 2,711, while the northwest region has 279 annually.
Ms. Lewandowski worries nursing is struggling to keep up with the constant “changing demographics” of the industry, such as people living longer and needing more care. She also says nursing is increasingly moving out of hospitals and into communities, adding to its demand.
“There’s been increases to the nursing workforce in a lot of different places,” she said. “They’re needed in jails, schools, all over the place.”
“We need to recruit younger people to nursing,” she added, citing ANA statistics that show the average age of employed RNs rose by two years from 2000 to 2010.
Kelly Trautner, the CEO of the Ohio Nurses Association, said Wednesday that the need for a campaign such as Nurses Now comes from inadequate staffing levels leading to low morale in certain cases. She also said nurses are leaving the field because of the pressures associated with the job.
“There are a lot of things the nursing profession needs to address,” she said. “Nurses need adequate time bedside. They’re expected to document all the care they provide in real time, and one of the biggest dissatisfiers for the profession is nurses not being able to spend enough time with their patients. They leave and look for management jobs.”
“Everyone is looking for ways that will attract the best nursing talent and retain the talent already there,” she added about the campaign.
Regarding shortages, Ms. Trautner cited a different study, one from U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, which projects that Ohio will have a surplus of 49,100 full-time nurses by 2030. Still, with the evolving industry, she doesn’t know if that number will be enough.
“Nursing has become so specialized,” Ms. Trautner said. “The workforce demand depends on what happens with healthcare. Some areas may have shortages, while other areas there will be more nurses than jobs.’
First Published August 7, 2019, 11:28 p.m.
