How South Bend area hospitals, colleges are addressing nursing shortages
As the nation grapples with a nursing shortage — compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic — the South Bend region's medical community is scrambling to find long-term solutions for the area.
They're exploring various options, including forming partnerships with local colleges in hopes of creating a pipeline of nurses who will train locally and work at the region's hospitals.
“The nursing shortage is a national crisis," said Loretta Schmidt, chief nursing officer for St. Joseph Regional Medical Center. "Nearly every discipline in health care is experiencing workforce challenges."
Nursing shortages have been a decades-long problem within the health care industry. However, the pandemic exacerbated the problem. Experts estimate that the country will experience a severe nursing shortage by 2030, which has serious implications for access to care, Schmidt said.
More:Beacon Health and Ivy Tech team up to help ease nursing shortage in South Bend area
About 500,000 nurses are expected to leave the workforce by the end of 2022, creating a national shortage of about 1.1 million nurses, according to an American Hospital Association estimate.
In January, about 30% of Indiana hospitals reported a "critical staffing shortage," and the Indiana Hospital Association estimates that the state will need 5,000 additional nurses by 2031.
Exacerbating the national trend is the fact that the average age of nurses continues to rise, meaning more nurses are set to retire each year. Today, the average nurse is 43.7 years old, up from 38.9 years old in 1978, and the proportion of nurses older than 55 has increased from 13% to 23% over the same period.
The alarming rate of patient-to-nurse ratios are further compounding the problem by causing nurses to burn out faster. About 84% of emergency room nurses and 96% of critical care nurses have a 4-1 ratio, which is double the optimal target of 2 to 1.
Viewpoint: How to combat Indiana's nursing shortage
"It scares me for the patients because they deserve better, but it also scares me for the nurses because it's hard enough having three-to-four patients, but then they're getting even more, and they're getting run down, and they're more likely to make mistakes," said Emily Farley, a senior nursing student at Saint Mary's College. "I think it's really sad."
Address the nursing shortage problem will require creativity, especially in the realm of education, Schmidt said.
Saint Mary's introduces direct admit nursing program, builds new facility
Sarah Gallagher Dvorak, Saint Mary's director of admissions, said the college recognizes the problem of the nursing shortage and is "doing everything (it) can" to make the nursing program even stronger to attract students and prepare them for success.
This fall, the college introduced a new direct admit into nursing science program for incoming freshmen who meet certain academic standards. Traditionally, St. Mary's students must be accepted into the nursing sciences program at the end of their sophomore year at the college. With the new direct admit program, qualified students are guaranteed a spot in the nursing program before they arrive on campus.
The direct admit program is "really exciting because students want to know when they're coming out of high school that they're going to be able to be in the nursing program," Dvorak said.
Viewpoint: Amid a national mental health crisis, let's invest in policing
The institution welcomed 59 students into its inaugural direct admit class. The students will have to meet certain academic criteria to stay in the program through the end of their sophomore year.
Despite the nursing shortage, Dvorak said the college has seen a 10% increase in applications to the nursing program over the past four years. Applications peaked in 2020, but enrollment continues to rise.
The college has also upgraded its facilities for the nursing program. In the fall of 2021 it opened the first phase of state-of-the-art Center for Integrated Healthcare Education. The project was funded in part by a $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment.
More:South Bend Human Rights Commission director fired for alleged workplace bullying, records show
It has a simulation lab that offers 11 specialized mannequins, which allow students to practice general bed side skills as well as specialties such as labor and delivery, ICU care and pediatrics. Farley said because Saint Mary's students only get one day in clinical each week, the mannequins give them valuable experience practicing patient care.
"It's gorgeous, and there's so much new stuff ," said the Pittsburgh native who's studying to be pediatric ER nurse. "It's just a better learning environment."
Ivy Tech and Beacon Health System partner to provide scholarships and jobs
Ivy Tech Community College South Bend-Elkhart and Beacon Health System are also working to address the nursing shortage in the region.
The community college recently increased the number of spots in its two-year Associate of Science in Nursing program from 40 to 60 students, and the number of spots in its 18-month practical nursing, or LPN, program from 20 to 40 students.
"We started to experience the (nursing) shortage around the beginning of COVID ... a lot of things were going on at that time," recalled Sharvon Robinson, dean of the college's Beacon Health System School of Nursing. "So, to help meet the community's needs, we increased our program numbers."
More:Where to see the 2022 holiday light displays in the South Bend area
Robinson said she wishes she could further increase the enrollment capacity in Ivy Tech's nursing programs, but with the nursing shortage comes a shortage of credentialed nursing faculty.
"We've seen a lot of nurses that may have an interest, but they're working so much that they can't work (on our faculty)," Robinson said.
This year, Ivy Tech South Bend-Elkhart partnered with Beacon Health System to launch the Beacon Scholar Program. The program seeks to address the nursing shortage from multiple facets by attracting nursing students and providing nursing faculty to Ivy Tech and preparing students to fill nursing roles within Beacon.
The Beacon Scholar Program provides Ivy Tech ASN students with a full-tuition scholarship and an additional living stipend, Robinson explained. Beacon Scholars project manager Darin Doverspike said over the course of the two-year program, the living stipend totals about $17,250.
The program also pays for students' nursing licensure exam and exam review materials during their final semester. Additionally, Beacon Scholars are promised a job as a Beacon Health nurse upon graduation.
Currently, 82% of the ASN class benefits from the Beacon Scholar Program, Robinson said.
Through the Beacon-Ivy Tech partnership, Beacon also provides Ivy Tech with "hybrid faculty," full-time nurses who also teach in the college's nursing program.
"Beacon has a shortage of nurses happening, and we have the nursing program, so it was just a really good partnership to support our students," Robinson said. "It is one that helps remove a bit one of the barriers we see that our students have, which is financial."
What's contributing to the national nursing shortage?
A recent Hospital IQ survey of more than 200 registered nurses working in U.S. hospitals reveals why nursing profession is not attracting and retaining new people:
90% of respondents considered leaving nursing in the next year.
71% of nurses who have more than 15 years of experience considered leaving within the next few months.
72% of respondents said they experienced burnout long before the pandemic.
43% revealed that due to a shortage of technicians in their hospitals, nurses are now tasked with non-nursing duties such as cleaning hospital rooms, procuring supplies and completing clerical duties.
Contact Tribune reporter Claire Reid at CEReid@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend nursing shortage the focus of new partnerships, programs
