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Nursing shortage prompts incentives by area hospitals

By Kim Malcolm, KERA 90.1 reporter

Dallas, TX – It was a big night recently for the administrators and management of Medical City, the sprawling hospital complex in North Dallas.

Dozens of invited guests streamed in to take their first peek at the new multi-million dollar on-site child care center called Children's Choice ... and chief executive officer Britt Berrett was clearly excited by what he saw.

Britt Berrett, Chief Executive Officer, Medical City: Unbelievable. I think you've all had a chance to tour Children's Choice, and I think the consensus is pretty amazing, is that not correct ... [applause]

The state-of-the-art child care center is built to serve 250 of his employees' children, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Administrators claim Medical City is one of the first hospitals in the country to offer round-the-clock child care, and they believe the center will give them an important leg up in the highly competitive race to find and keep health professionals, especially nurses.

John Gavras, President, Dallas Fort Worth Hospital Council: Well, the current nursing shortage is bad ...

John Gavras, president of the Dallas Fort Worth Hospital Council, says that area hospitals need more than 1800 nurses. The shortage of critical care nurses is especially worrisome.

Gavras: Last year we had a 28% vacancy rate in the critical care area; we have brought that down to 18.9% ... We consider 10% or above critical.

Many nurses have left the profession because of the stress of working in a cost-conscious health care environment. Others are also getting older, and in the next six years, more than 300,000 are due to retire nationwide. So many hospitals are racing to meet the top three job needs nurses say they want met - a supportive working environment, flexible scheduling, and continuing education.

Methodist Hospitals of Dallas is trying to get new recruits through the door with a contest. They'll give away three new Volkswagen Beetles to registered nurses who start work at the hospital by the end of the year. Sam Ruffing, the vice president of nursing at Methodist Hospitals of Dallas, says the campaign is working. Since it began, they've had a 5- to 600% increase in the number of job offers, and acceptances.

Sam Ruffing, Vice President of Nursing, Methodist Hospitals of Dallas: We had an ER nurse who just moved to town, literally sat in every ER department in this city, saw our ad campaign, went to the job fair, was hired that day, and a week ago I ran into her in the ER dept, and she's just happy to be here ... thought it was creative. And that's what we're looking for ...

Nickie Baker is a newly graduated 23-year-old registered nurse who started at Methodist in June. She thinks the VW bugs are cute, but says she really came to Methodist because of their internship program, which gives young nurses like her a mentor to work under.

Nickie Baker, registered nurse: I live in the country you know, and if I went to one of the hospitals down there, I may be by myself in a week. Up here, I'm with someone for three months. And so I was like OK, I'm not going to be thrown into a situation where I don't know what I'm doing, which is going to get me in trouble, because there's always someone there to help me out if I need help.

The Hospital Council's John Gavras says that's the sort of program nursing schools and hospitals need to emphasize, but he also expects to see more flashy recruitment campaigns; they're a sign of the times, as hospitals look beyond traditional approaches to attract and support nurses. For KERA 90.1, I'm Kim Malcolm.

To contact Kim Malcolm, please send emails to kmalcolm@kera.org.