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Regional Commission on Nursing Shortage meets |
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A newly formed Commission of South Florida healthcare and non-healthcare leaders met over lunch on the 20th of April at Nova Southeastern University to consider strategies to bolster the region’s third largest generator of jobs. The South Florida Commission on the Nursing Shortage is comprised of sixteen executives including businesses leaders and the heads of academic institutions, and public sector organizations.
"The region's health care sector is already one of the largest sources of private sector jobs and is expected to be an increasingly important part of the regional economy. While it hasn’t attracted the broad community-wide attention of the developing life science sector, the convergence of these industries offer tremendous opportunities for the future,” remarked Mike Jones, President of the Economic Council of Palm Beach County. “Much is changing within the healthcare sector and it is important that our community understands the opportunities that can be realized through the development of a regional cluster of hospitals ranked at the top nationally for patient outcomes, safety, and satisfaction,” noted Brian Keeley, President & Chief Executive Officer of Baptist Health South Florida “It is important that the business and community leaders understand what we can do to support our healthcare sector, doing so will not only serve the physical and mental health interests of the local population, it will also help keep the local economy strong,” said host Ray Ferrero, Jr., President of Nova Southeastern University and Chairman of the Broward Alliance. Topping the list of what the community can do to support the healthcare sector is helping to addressing key labor shortages, especially a shortage of nurses at all levels that is projected to grow. “The work of the Consortium and others, and the current economic slowdown has lowered nurse vacancy rates in area hospitals. However, the demographic trends of a growing and aging population and an aging nurses workforce presents us with a huge challenge that requires us to remain focused on increasing the production of new nurses and retaining and developing the nurses that we have,” stated Silvia Stradi, Chief Nursing Officer at Palms West Hospital and President of the Nursing Consortium of South Florida.
After reviewing recently published economic impact and workforce data, the members of the South Florida Commission on the Nursing Shortage, agreed to support a series of initiatives designed to address critical nurse workforce needs. Included are programs that inform youth of nursing career opportunities, better transition newly graduated nurses to hospital work environments, support nurses who wish to teach on a full or part-time basis, develop nurse leaders, and help retain nurses, including older nurses, in the local workforce. “The nursing shortage can best be addressed by monitoring and improving the health of the nursing workforce pipeline. We have identified how as nurses progress through the various stages in their careers, we loose them and this effort will enable the Consortium to develop best practices that all our member hospitals can implement to better promote and retain this key resource,” remarked Evelyn Gonzalez-Morlote, Talent Manager at Miami Children’s Hospital and President-elect of the Nursing Consortium of South Florida.
A growing number of studies linking hospital nurse staffing to patient outcomes has led to a deepening understanding among influential thought leaders and quality organizations that achieving higher quality health care delivery systems cannot be accomplished without an adequately sized and well-prepared nursing workforce. Meanwhile, the recent move by the federal government to track and publish patient outcomes and satisfaction and the rise of hospital reimbursement models tied to these nurse-sensitive performance measures has contributed to the business case for community action aimed at meeting the workforce needs of the healthcare sector. Florida hospitals provide high skill, high wage jobs, with annual earnings averaging $52,661 in 2006. In 2007, South Florida’s 75 hospitals were responsible for creating 210,204 jobs and bringing $8.9 billion to the local economy according to a new report by the Florida Hospital Association.
However, looming workforce shortages threaten this key source of jobs and economic activity. The latest projections suggest that the average age of RNs in the US will reach 44.5 years in 2012, and that RNs in their 50s will then be the largest age group of the workforce. A deficit in the number of RNs relative to their expected demand, will increase to an estimated 285,000 FTE RNs by 2020 (nearly three times larger than any deficit experienced in the United States over the past 50 years), and is projected to expand to 500,000 FTE RNs by 2025. The Florida Center for Nursing projects a state-wide shortage of more than 52,000 nurses by 2020.
The Nursing Consortium of South Florida has fostered a degree of collegiality and collaboration among nurse leaders in practice and academic settings that is uncommon in other parts of the country. Since 1997, the Consortium has launched numerous initiatives and it has formed the South Florida Commission on the Nursing Shortage to help raise awareness and support for continued work to address the shortage in South Florida. The members of the South Florida Commission on the Nursing Shortage are Rick Beasley, Executive Director - South Florida Workforce, Pascal J. Goldschmidt, MD, Chief Executive Officer - University of Miami Health System, Robert Hill, President & Chief Executive Officer - Bethesda Memorial Hospital, Ray Ferrero, Jr., President - Nova Southeastern University, Dennis P. Gallon, Ph.D., President - Palm Beach Community College, Ralph Gazitua, President and CEO - WTDC, John Johnson, President & Chief Executive Officer - Holy Cross Hospital & Mercy Hospital, Michael Joseph, President - HCA East Florida Division, Mike Jones, President & Chief Executive Officer - Economic Council of Palm Beach County, Brian Keeley, President & Chief Executive Officer - Baptist Health South Florida, Narendra Kini, MD, MHA, President & Chief Executive Officer - Miami Children’s Hospital, Keith Koenig, President - City Furniture, Frank Nero, President & Chief Executive Officer - The Beacon Council, Mark B. Rosenberg, Former Chancellor - State University System, Frank V. Sacco, FACHE, President and Chief Executive Officer - Memorial Healthcare System, and Eric Swanson, South Florida Market Officer - Flagler Development.
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Posted on Friday, April 24 @ 08:40:53 EDT by regues |
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