By ANNE KAZMIERCZAK
Register Reporter
While other industries are laying off employees by the score, demand for nurses is growing.
“There’s pretty much job security. You’re going to have a job,” said Beverly Rousch, assistant director of nursing at Neosho County Community College.
Nationwide, nursing is considered to have a shortage of qualified applicants. Some areas of the country — and Kansas — are stretching to recruit professionals and even qualified students. Allen and Neosho counties are faring better.
Southeast Kansas is rich with hospitals and nursing homes — and therefore job opportunities for nurses.
“Health care in general has providers in demand,” said Deborah Gazda, Chief Nursing Officer at Allen County Hospital.
According to a recent Kansas Department of Labor study, nursing comprises the top three growth categories in jobs across the state. Nursing aides, orderlies and attendants are in the most demand, followed by registered nurses and personal and home care aides. In 2008, a total of 1,700 jobs in the health and education sectors were added, the study said. In technical and research areas, 1,508 jobs were added. Surprisingly, not all the growth is in urban areas.
Labor Economist Tyler Tenbrink was quoted in the study as saying “A significant amount of Kansas employment growth comes from outside the Topeka, Wichita and Kansas City metropolitan statistical areas. Over the year we lost 3,900 jobs in those three areas while gaining 11,200 jobs in the rest of the state.”
Locally, Allen County Hospital has “added some positions as we have grown,” Grazda said
“Hospitals and nursing homes are the largest employers,” explained Rousch. But nurses don’t have to stay with hospitals.
“There are so many different areas in nursing you can specialize in,” Rousch said, including neonatal, advanced life support and geriatric nursing. “The nice thing is, you don’t need total retraining” once a practicing nurse, she said, allowing for flexibility and movement within the career as interests change. Other options include insurance companies, schools, cruise ships — the list goes on.
“They’re pretty much choosing where they want to go when they get out. If they want to do oncology, they do that,” Rousch said of her graduating nurses.
Many, though, stay near home.
In contrast to other rural parts of the country, which are finding it hard to recruit medical professionals, Southeast Kansas is actually a desired work location — at least for nurses graduating from local programs.
“Our students do not have any problem getting jobs when they get out. Employers are really happy with them. A lot of them are remaining local — and that includes local to the town they came from,” Rousch said.
The reasons are simple, she said. Typically, a nursing student in the NCCC program is older, and may be changing careers.
“Our average age is 33 to 35,” Rousch said. “And we do get a lot of single mothers.”
Such individuals are attracted to the high pay and relatively short commitment necessary for licensing, Rousch said, and are usually invested in their communities. They aren’t necessarily interested in relocating.
And Rousch said most of her students enter the field for personal reasons.
“Most of them had a family member or someone they had to care for who was ill, and they got some satisfaction from that. Or they had a relative who got really good care and they wanted to give back,” she said.
Rousch herself went into nursing for that reason.
“I was raised on a farm in LaHarpe and I was ill a lot as a child. I thought the nurses were great and took really good care of me.”
“I knew when I graduated from nursing school that I wanted to teach,” Rousch said. She’s been working at NCCC since 1988.
THE NURSING SHORTAGE has been a long time coming, Rousch said. One factor is societal. Women opt to enter many professions now, not just the traditional three of nursing, teaching or secretarial. Another is the boom in medical technology, which has created a wealth of specialized jobs for nurses. And today’s baby boomers are in need of more medical care. The wealth of opportunoites is changing the face of nursing, too.
Once a female-dominated profession, more men now enter its ranks. In Southeast Kansas, though, those numbers are still small.
“We don’t have a lot of men. We’re happy when we have four in a class,” Rousch said. “But who knows?” she mused. “There’s a lot of layoffs recently, so maybe next year we’ll see more.”
At NCCC’s Ottawa campus, numbers are a little different. There were seven men in the last incoming class of 44, said Director of Nursing Pam Covault.
“That’s typical,” she said.
Ottawa is also seeing an influx of students from outside of Kansas — way outside.
“We have a lot of international students,” predominantly from Kenya, Covault said. “It is exciting because it changes the culture of the classroom.”
Due to the school’s proximity to Kansas City, “Many will be in the online program or relocate to get in the classroom,” she said. “Johnson County is inching toward us,” Covault said.
The changing community has an impact on the program, Covault said, but she doesn’t fault the students.
“They’re very good nurses,” she said. “But anytime you have a language barrier you have to spend more time with the students,” which can tax an already strained staff.
No matter where they’re from, though, Covault said. “They go back to their home areas for employment after graduation.” About 100 new nurses graduate every year from NCCC.
“When you’re standing there at graduation, it’s exciting,” Covault said. Rousch agrees. “I do get a lot of satisfaction knowing that 500 or 600 people have gone through this program since I’ve been here. It just makes you feel good to know you have had a positive influence.”
According to DOL data, there are 2,020 registered nurses in the 17 counties of Southeast Kansas. There are an additional 660 LPNs here. Overall, 18,500 RNs and 7,370 LPNs work in the state.
Neosho County Community College’s nursing program can be reached through its web site at www.neosho.edu. The nursing link is on the left.
01/28/09
No comments:
Post a Comment