The Rhinelander Daily News - Online news and information for the Rhinelander, Wisconsin region

“The United States is in the midst of a nursing shortage that is expected to intensify as baby boomers age and the need for health care grows. Compounding the problem is the fact that nursing colleges and universities across the country are struggling to expand enrollment levels to meet the rising demand for nursing care.”

Nursing Shortage Fact Sheet, March 8, 2004,

American Association of Colleges of Nursing

As television camera lights blared, a sight not often seen at a Nicolet Area Technical College Board meeting, Monica Hilts, President of Sacred Heart-Saint Mary's Hospital and Brian Kief, President and CEO of Howard Young Health Care, took their places at the conference table.

Their mission was simple.

A health care crisis looms on the American horizon and Northwoods hospitals are trying to figure out what every other hospital in the nation is trying to figure out- how to replace large numbers of potential retiring nursing staff with a dwindling supply of entry level RN's.

Within the next ten years Sacred Heart-Saint Mary's Hospital (SH-SMH) stands to lose up to a third of its registered nursing staff due to retirements.

Project those numbers out over the next twenty years and nearly seventy-five percent of the current RN staff at SH-SMH will disappear from the hospital's halls.

The numbers come as no surprise to the hospital presidents presenting their case to Nicolet Board members - they're nationwide in scope.

According to the National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses released in February 2002 by the Division of Nursing within the Bureau of Health Professions, the average age of the working RN was 43.3 years old in 2000, while the RN population under the age of 30 dropped from 25 percent in 1980 to 9 percent in 2000.

Add to that the fact that as RNs retire from hospitals they will also be retiring from their teaching positions at nursing schools and the prognosis only gets worse.

“None of us has a crystal ball,” said Brian Kief, “but we can make some educated guesses. There is going to be an obvious and dramatic shift in our population as we look out into the future. The aging of the baby boom is the single biggest thing that will impact healthcare in the future.”

Kief said that the RN statistics can just as easily be applied to other positions in hospitals as well. “We picked one occupation. You can layer in any others you choose - LPN, CNA, - and the numbers will look very similar.” he said.

And the solution?

Hilts said keeping young people in the community is important, but so is selling the lifestyle of the Northwoods area.

“We want to draw all ages to professions in the health field which is why our work with Nicolet is important,” she said.

“It amazes us how much of our workforce is local,” said Kief, “which is why our partnership with Nicolet is so important to us.”

The presentation to the Nicolet Board Monday was informational. The board took no action and had no discussion with the presenters.

Tell us what you think...

Comments »

The comments above are from readers. In no way do they represent the views of the Rhinelander Daily News.