Board of Regents task force delivers findings.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Georgia will have a projected additional need for more than 20,000 registered nurses by 2020. This additional need reflects an expected 35.6 percent increase between 2001 and 2020.

In a Task Force on Health Profession Education report to the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia this June, it was revealed that at the present rate of growth and all other things constant, the Georgia public higher education system would only be able to meet roughly two-thirds of the state's annual demand for registered nurses (RNs). This same report of a task force appointed during September 2005 asserted that nearly all of Georgia's health care professions will be in short supply by the year 2015.

The report, which paints a grim picture of the current state of Georgia's public health care education systems suggests recommended actions to remedy the situation efficiently and quickly. The task force notes that qualified applicants rejected nearly doubles current output.

Long-time Georgia Nurses Association (GNA) member Kay Hampton, MSN, RN served on the Task Force to represent professional nursing. Hampton currently is the Director of Career and Technical Education at Coastal Georgia Community College and is the GNA Director of Leadership Development.

"The task force worked diligently to assess the current and future needs for all healthcare providers in Georgia. Knowing the aging and growing population, the demand will continue to increase. The task force representatives were from several colleges/universities and represented nursing, medicine and various allied health professions. Registered Nursing was, of course, the profession with the greatest need in numbers," states Hampton. "I believe the work of this task force will provide the USG Board of Regents with the data to move forward with strategic initiatives to battle the professional nursing shortage, by providing opportunities for RNs to continue their education at the graduate level, thus producing additional faculty and to increase the nursing student population in the various colleges and universities."

Recommendations from this task force include the following:

* Improve system-level planning to be more responsive to local needs, while adapting to innovation and outcome oriented;

* Launch system initiatives to increase the number and diversity of qualified faculty; and

* Establish an ongoing process of curricular revision and enhancement to incorporate new knowledge and technology.

In April of this year, the University System of Georgia announced a $5 million initiative that made expanding the University System of Georgia's production of nurses a key priority.

The allocation is to fund a multi-level strategy to address the state's severe shortage of nurses and nurse educators, admissions limitations in existing nursing programs and the lack of adequate clinical sites for nurse training.

"We will accelerate the production of nurses at as many locations and in as many different ways as possible," Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr. said. "Our goal is to drive our budget allocations toward System-wide priorities and compelling needs in key policy areas. The nursing shortage represents a critical issue for the state."

According to the University System of Georgia, these new funds will be used to:

* Enable the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) to offer its existing Doctor of Nursing Practice program as an external degree program on the campuses of eight other colleges and universities across the state, including at Albany State University, Clayton State University, Columbus State University, Emory University, Georgia Southern University, Gordon College, MCG's School of Nursing in Athens, and at Valdosta State University;

* Enable Georgia State University to partner with five other USG institutions to establish a statewide doctoral program (Ph.D.) in nursing. The partner institutions are Armstrong Atlantic State University, Georgia College & State University, Georgia Southwestern State University, Georgia State University and Valdosta State University;

* Expand Associate of Science in Nursing programs at nine USG institutions: Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Bainbridge College, Darton College, East Georgia College, North Georgia College & State University, Macon State College, Georgia Perimeter College, Georgia Highlands College and South Georgia College;

* Expand accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs at five USG institutions: Columbus State University, Kennesaw State University, Georgia Southwestern State University, Georgia State University, and Valdosta State University;

* Establish an Endowed Chair of Nursing at Georgia Southern University; and

* Create simulation labs at Valdosta State and Albany State universities that will allow nursing students to gain experience in a realistic clinical setting. Students will use life-size computerized human models that can be programmed to react physiologically to different scenarios, such as the administration of drugs, insertion of intravenous lines and respiratory distress. The labs will allow VSU and ASU to expand enrollment in their nursing programs, which are limited currently by inadequate clinical space.

With health care professionals accounting for nearly 15 percent of the state's labor income and some 11 percent of the state's Gross State Product, it is clear that our present shortages are critical in nature.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Georgia is currently the ninth largest state in the nation; however, our supply of RNs comes in below 42. To compound the issue, Georgia's health status is ranked 43 and the State of Emergency Medicine Report Card lists Georgia's access to care with a grade of D+.

Additionally, officials estimate that Georgia's population will increase to more than 10.8 million by 2015. This increase in population will demand an adequate supply of qualified skilled health care professionals that our education system currently cannot provide.

Hopefully, a $5 million investment in nursing education in conjunction with the recommendations of this task force will bring Georgia out of its current critical shortage.