Alabama’s Nursing Shortage: Finding Solutions

Their services are invaluable.  Yet hospitals are losing qualified nurses at an alarming rate, causing concerns about patient care.   

The patient population and nurses have one thing in common.  They are both aging.

Some important facts about the majority of Alabama’s nurses - more than 26,000 are about to reach retirement age.

It’s estimated that Alabama will lose 15 - 25% of its nurses by the year 2015.

But two local hospitals, have plans to turn that around, bring on new nurses, and keep the ones they already have on staff.

In an effort to recruit more nurses, the UAB School of Nursing offers an accelerated program, which prepares some students to be Registered Nurses in one year.

UAB Hospital and Children’s Hospital also have special mentoring programs for first-year nurses.

Gina Redmond shows how that works in her Fact Finder report.