Area nursing shortage abates
Recruitment programs seem to be paying off
Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
While the vacancy rate for registered nurses hovers around 8.3 percent in Maine hospitals, it looks to be headed in the right direction.
Sebasticook Valley Hospital nurse Valerie Barrows attends patient Paul Butler at the Pittsfield facility. Drawing from other areas has been has proven successful at Sebasticook Valley, where 49 of the 50 nursing positions are filled. click to enlarge
And smaller, rural hospitals in central Maine — commonly thought to face the most acute shortages —are reporting the biggest gains.
But no one is relaxing completely.
"You always have to be on guard that the full crunch hasn't reached up here, and we kind of sit back and say, 'why are we doing so well?'" said Daniel R. Marois, director of marketing at Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington.
Susan E. Ray, a registered nurse and director of recruitment at Franklin Memorial, is equally wary despite the fact that the hospital boasts a 1.6 percent vacancy rate.
"Where we're located, the bulk of the nursing shortage has not hit as yet," Ray said.
Central Maine hospitals have charted varying strategies for dealing with a nursing shortage that was the topic of a recent CNN documentary.
An aging work force and diminished crop of nursing-school graduates have contributed to the problem, despite the fact that nurses earn on average $24 per hour. The median age for RNs is between 55 and 60. Some nurses are going into home-heatlh care, and others to pharmaceutical companies.
Ray has focused on retention at Franklin Memorial. Sebasticook Valley Hospital in Pittsfield has taken a different tack, but has enjoyed similar success through recruitment.
MaineGeneral Medical Center of Augusta-Waterville, of course, has many more positions to fill. MaineGeneral employs 450 RNs in its Augusta and Waterville hospitals. It relies more on the recruitment of nursing-school graduates.
MaineGeneral's vacancy rate is much improved from the 12 percent of 2001, but it remains between 7 and 8 percent. That is more in line with the state average of 8.3 percent, according to statistics provided by the Maine Hospital Association.
Whatever the shortages, hospitals make sure patients do not suffer. They fill their needs by hiring per diem nurses, at greater costs, through agencies.
Franklin Memorial is just 1 1/2 positions short of its full complement of 111 RNs. Marois credits the efforts of Ray, who has been director of recruitment for two years.
"We've had definite improvement in the last year," Marois said. "Susan's experience in being a nurse — boy, that plays great. We have really zeroed in on that position."
Franklin Memorial benefits from a $12 million project that includes new maternity and pediatric units. A new surgical suite and an education center are coming attractions.
Ray said the hospital is offering salary adjustment and a flexible schedule to retain nurses who otherwise might have left or retired.
"Our main priority is retention," Ray said. "That's something we work at every day. Communication is the key."
The new facilities also help attract new faces.
"We've been lucky to draw from other areas," Marois said.
Drawing from other areas has been precisely the strategy that has proven successful lately at Sebasticook Valley Hospital, where 49 of the 50 nursing positions are filled. SVH also benefits from a recent addition, the $1.9 million Outpatient and Women's Health Center that opened in October.
SVH was 16 percent short of a full staff a year ago, when Chief Executive Officer and President John C. "Jack" May took action.
"It's an extremely critical problem to small hospitals trying to staff their units appropriately," May said.
May called a meeting with Tammy L. Hatch, human resources coordinator, and Susan P. diRosario, manager of marketing.
Together, they planned a nursing open house last February. SVH targeted 22 towns, and sent mailings to 1,400 nurses. Thirty showed up at the open house for tours and interviews.
"We hired six over the last 10 months," Hatch said. "We coaxed some people from other places, so that was a very positive approach."
SVH offered cross-training and broader opportunities, and increased its pay rates. The hospital also offered signing bonuses and money for training.
As of last autumn, SVH had times when there were no openings for nurses.
"But we're in a time period where we're going to have a shortage, and we have to offer Sebasticook Valley as the ideal place to come and work," said May. "We offer flexibility, freedom, a nice town. We've got a lot here to sell.
"This is a continual effort that we all work on. We met weekly."
May noted that nursing is not an easy profession.
"There are some 12-hour shifts," he said. "Nurses work weekends and on holidays. Hospitals don't close. It makes it a tough job. What they're paid, they earn."
Barbara J. Whitehead, senior vice president of nursing at MaineGeneral, said that hospitals are becoming more competitive with other professions. She is also optimistic that nursing-school attendance has bottomed out.
"I think that the graduating class of the schools last year was a bit larger," Whitehead said. "There is an increased interest in nursing as a career."
The soft economy also has served to bring some nurses back into the workplace, Whitehead said.
MaineGeneral is doing its part by participating in the Maine Guidance Counselors Association's annual March meeting. The hospital is working with Boys and Girls Scouts, providing a nurse's patch to those showing interest in the field.
For those who have made it through nursing school, MaineGeneral offers a new orientation program. The hospital is offering longer shifts to young nurses who want it.
"We're analyzing our current work force and trying to develop a three-to-five-year plan," Whitehead said. "The feeling at the hospital is that we're in very good shape —that we've turned it around for now. But I wouldn't say that we're totally out of the woods yet."
Larry Grard — 487-3288 lgrard@centralmaine.com