Houston Chronicle - June 2008

Schools struggling to keep up:
Many find they cannot accept all the qualified applicants

By LYNN COOK

Getting skilled nurses to staff critical roles in operating rooms is toug"The OR's an exciting place. The nurses in there are really the patient's true advocate, the glue between the surgeon and anesthesiologist and the chief person responsible for cleanliness," she says. "Nurses are not background players. They are front and center." h.

The shortage of OR nurses prompted Texas Woman's University to team up with Houston Community College and The Methodist Hospital to offer a special summer elective course for nursing students, focusing on operating room procedures.

Response was so great that not all interested students were able to enroll, so TWU is repeating the course in the fall. The hope is to steer new registered nurses into the surgery suite.

But the oversubscribed elective points to a troubling chokepoint aggravating a nursing shortage that's existed for years: Nursing schools cannot accommodate all the qualified applicants who want to work in medicine.

In 2007, nursing schools in the Gulf Coast region turned down 2,290 qualified applicants, said Dr. Betty Adams, dean of Prairie View A&M College of Nursing. That's up from 492 qualified applicants turned down in 1998 when nursing schools started tracking the data.

Adams said there aren't enough teachers to keep up with the demand for nurses.

"It creates an ongoing challenge because many of those in practice can draw a salary almost double what they can make in academics," Adams said.

Dr. Kathryn Tart, an associate professor of nursing at TWU, said the Denton university's Houston nursing program turned down around 300 qualified applicants for nursing school this spring.

"The quality of students is increasing because the number of slots we have to fill is so small. It's extremely competitive," she said.

The average age of Houston nurses is around 50, and many plan to retire early from the physically intense job, Tart said. Expansion in the health care system only aggravates the problem, she says.

Michelle Brentz, who recently graduated with a master's degree in nursing from TWU, works as an operating room nurse at The Methodist Hospital and teaches for TWU.

Brentz recently helped run an OR simulation lab at HCC's Coleman College campus in the Texas Medical Center. Students worked in small groups with Methodist OR nurses to learn how to properly scrub in, transfer patients from gurneys to beds and prepare patients to go under the knife.

After hours of lab time, the student nurses will work under close supervision in real operating rooms at Methodist and LBJ hospitals.

TWU's Tart said a student can go through four years of nursing school without ever seeing the inside of an operating room.

Brentz said she wishes more students knew about the crucial role of the surgical nurse.



	Houston Chronicle June 27, 2008, 11:24PM Schools struggling to keep up: Many find they cannot accept all the qualified applicants By LYNN COOK Getting skilled nurses to staff critical roles in operating rooms is toug"The OR's an exciting place. The nurses in there are really the patient's true advocate, the glue between the surgeon and anesthesiologist and the chief person responsible for cleanliness," she says. "Nurses are not background players. They are front and center." h. The shortage of OR nurses prompted Texas Woman's University to team up with Houston Community College and The Methodist Hospital to offer a special summer elective course for nursing students, focusing on operating room procedures. Response was so great that not all interested students were able to enroll, so TWU is repeating the course in the fall. The hope is to steer new registered nurses into the surgery suite. But the oversubscribed elective points to a troubling chokepoint aggravating a nursing shortage that's existed for years: Nursing schools cannot accommodate all the qualified applicants who want to work in medicine. In 2007, nursing schools in the Gulf Coast region turned down 2,290 qualified applicants, said Dr. Betty Adams, dean of Prairie View A&M College of Nursing. That's up from 492 qualified applicants turned down in 1998 when nursing schools started tracking the data. Adams said there aren't enough teachers to keep up with the demand for nurses. "It creates an ongoing challenge because many of those in practice can draw a salary almost double what they can make in academics," Adams said. Dr. Kathryn Tart, an associate professor of nursing at TWU, said the Denton university's Houston nursing program turned down around 300 qualified applicants for nursing school this spring. "The quality of students is increasing because the number of slots we have to fill is so small. It's extremely competitive," she said. The average age of Houston nurses is around 50, and many plan to retire early from the physically intense job, Tart said. Expansion in the health care system only aggravates the problem, she says. Michelle Brentz, who recently graduated with a master's degree in nursing from TWU, works as an operating room nurse at The Methodist Hospital and teaches for TWU. Brentz recently helped run an OR simulation lab at HCC's Coleman College campus in the Texas Medical Center. Students worked in small groups with Methodist OR nurses to learn how to properly scrub in, transfer patients from gurneys to beds and prepare patients to go under the knife. After hours of lab time, the student nurses will work under close supervision in real operating rooms at Methodist and LBJ hospitals. TWU's Tart said a student can go through four years of nursing school without ever seeing the inside of an operating room. Brentz said she wishes more students knew about the crucial role of the surgical nurse. *lynn.cook@chron.com*