Deans and directors of nursing education programs from across the state will convene in Columbia Aug. 2 for an invitational nursing summit focused on addressing the growing shortage of registered nurses.

"This is not crying wolf. The nursing shortage is a major problem looming ahead for this state and this country," said Peggy Hewlett, dean of USC's College of Nursing, a key partner in organizing the summit in conjunction with the S.C. Hospital Association's Organization of Nurse Executives.

"The August meeting will give South Carolina nursing leaders the opportunity to come together around the central issues that must be addressed to assure the public's health."

MUSC, Clemson, and the state's technical colleges also will participate in the summit, which organizers hope will result in "One Voice-One Plan," a document that should help inform healthcare policy and planning decisions during the next two to three years.

Past nursing shortages have been addressed by creating new nursing programs or stepping up student recruitment efforts. But those solutions, in isolation, won't provide long-term solutions, Hewlett said.

"We had many nursing students with GPAs ranging from 3.0 to 3.4 who we were forced to turn down this past year for admission to upper division courses. We are limited by sufficient clinical sites and enough nursing faculty in how many students we can accommodate," Hewlett said. "The immediate challenge is for us to find ways to increase upper division enrollments to open up the bottleneck."

Part of the answer could lie in creative teaching solutions that involve clinical nurse specialists in hospitals working in conjunction with nursing graduate students and a supervising nursing professor. But more action will be necessary to mitigate the projected long-term nursing shortage, which is estimated to reach as high as one million nationwide by 2020.

"If we don't put efforts into positive changes in the work environment, it won't matter how many nursing students we prepare--they won't stay in the job force," Hewlett said. "That's why it's important to have the S.C. Hospital Association integrally involved in the summit."

The nursing shortage in South Carolina is forecast to reach 6,700 by 2020 (South Carolina currently has about 37,000 working registered nurses). While that's fewer than the 110,000 vacant nursing positions forecast for Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida by the end of the next decade, South Carolina's predicted smaller shortage shouldn't lull anyone into complacency, Hewlett said.

"Those neighboring states will be trying to recruit our nurses. And even lesser shortages of nurses can have major consequences, particularly in smaller hospitals and underserved areas," she said.

Internally, USC plans to more closely align the nursing curricula used at USC Columbia, USC Aiken, USC Beaufort, and USC Upstate. Beginning in January, USC Columbia plans to offer master's level nursing courses at the three four-year campuses. Plans also are in the works for offering a greater number of Ph.D. and nursing practice doctorate courses online.

USC also will continue its ongoing discussions with Clemson and MUSC about ways to maximize resources through coordinated graduate courses and programs where appropriate.

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