Nursing shortage demands action
The state of South Carolina is facing a health care crisis. The current nursing shortage is at the center of this crisis. It is estimated by 2020 there will be approximately 12,000 registered nurse vacancies in our state. Without state legislation to address this matter, citizens of South Carolina will suffer as a consequence.
In 2007 the state passed the Critical Needs Nursing Initiative Act to enhance nursing faculty salaries, assist in procuring new faculty and aid in nursing student scholarships, loan and grant programs. It was to receive $28 million in funding. However, with the state of the national and state economy, funding has dwindled.
Procuring more nursing faculty is key to increasing the number of new graduate nurses in the state. In 2010, it is estimated that colleges across the nation turned away from nursing schools over 67,000 qualified applicants due to insufficient faculty. If this trend continues the nursing shortage will magnify.
As a concerned South Carolina citizen and nurse, I am pessimistic about South Carolina's health care future. I am asking everyone who has ever needed medical care and who worries about who will administer that care to please act. Call your state representatives and ask them to influence the Ways and Means Committee to fund the Critical Needs Nursing Initiative Act.
The life you save may be your own.
Tim Brendle, BSN, R.N.
PeriOperative Services
Adthan Circle
Goose Creek
