Vital signs are strong for nursing
Mobile Register, March 13, 2005 Section: Z Page: 1
Author: Marc D. Anderson

Vital signs are strong for nursing County growth, expanding hospitals, make for a shortage in health profession

Each Sunday, the ''help wanted" ads in newspaper classified sections tell the tale - ''RNs and LPNs, $2,000 Sign-On Bonus ...," ''RN Staff Expansions ...," ''Jobs, Jobs, Jobs - several positions available immediately in assisted living facilities ...."

And the list goes on in column after column of classified ads.

It's no secret, Baldwin County is growing at a rapid pace and with this growth hospitals are expanding, compounding the demand for nurses and other medical personnel.

To meet this practically insatiable need, the University of South Alabama began offering its nursing program at the school's Fairhope campus in 2002. And Faulkner State Community College in Bay Minette followed with its own nursing program in 2003.

Prior to these programs, if a Baldwin County resident wanted to pursue a career in nursing she or he had to travel across the bay to Mobile or go to Pensacola. Now Baldwin County has out-of-state students commuting here for their nursing education.

Two of these students are Norma Hall and her daughter Christina Smyth, both of Pensacola, who are enrolled in USA's program in Fairhope.

Smyth is in her third semester of the bachelor's degree course and Hall just began the program.

"I chose USA over the two schools in Pensacola simply because I heard it was a really good school for nursing," Hall said during a break from classes on a recent Friday afternoon.

Students who are accepted into USA's nursing program can expect five semesters of course work and clinical experience at area hospitals and nursing homes.

Hall, a student in her first semester, said she enjoyed her first clinical at Foley Nursing Home.

"We take vital signs, and we dress wounds," Hall said of the duties of the nursing students. ''Of course you've got other things like making beds and delivering ice."

During the first semester, students are expected to spend one day a week in an area hospital or nursing home and that amount is gradually increased to 21/2 days per week in later semesters.

Hall said she chose to enter the nursing program because she has always been interested in the medical field.

"I always read medical books and medical articles and stuff like that," Hall said. ''I'm just a natural caregiver. I was a stay-at-home mom and now a stay-at-home grandma. I just thought that I would like it and after my first clinical, I decided I really do."

Smyth, who is juggling her nursing studies along with raising two children and holding down a job as a pharmacy technician, said she originally was working toward a pharmacy degree but a miscarriage changed that.

"I had a midwife who delivered my baby and it's a midwife I saw with my second pregnancy," Smyth said. ''It was just the care they gave. They are so concentrated on the person and not what's wrong with you. If you need 45 minutes, they have 45 minutes with you. I want to be there for the patients, so eventually I want to be either a midwife or nurse practitioner. I'm definitely a patient advocate."

Smyth said she recently completed a clinical at Foley Nursing Home and is currently helping out in the maternity ward at Baptist Hospital in Pensacola.

Growing programs

Smyth and Hall are part of a nursing student population that has been steadily growing at USA's Fairhope campus and Faulkner in Bay Minette.

In 2002, USA started the Baldwin County program with 24 students, has already graduated three classes and currently has more than 150 students enrolled this semester at the Fairhope campus, according to Dr. Barbara Broome, associate dean of the university's College of Nursing.

Broome said the school is averaging between 30 and 35 students in each incoming class at Fairhope but as far as future expansion the school is taking a ''wait and see approach."

"I think right now we really have done what we wanted to do and probably will stay where we are at for a while," Broome said.

On the north end of the county, Faulkner State Community College in Bay Minette is having success with its two-year associate's degree nursing program (RN) and its one-year practical nursing program (LPN).

The first class enrolled in Faulkner's associate's program in 2003 started with 32 students, 18 of whom are poised to be the first graduates of the school's two-year program. A class from the LPN program recently graduated, said Jean Graham, director of the Nursing and Allied Health Department at Faulkner.

The LPN graduates, who are limited in their nursing duties, such as not being able to administer blood or give certain narcotic medications, are now working at various medical facilities in the county, including South Baldwin Regional Medical Center in Foley, Thomas Hospital in Fairhope and at Westminster Village nursing and retirement center in Spanish Fort, Graham said.

Graham said the response from the medical community has been very favorable.

"We had complete backing from the community and the hospitals, especially in Baldwin County," Graham said. ''They were thrilled we were finally going to get a nursing program."

Suzanne Hicks, the nurse recruiter at Thomas Hospital, said the facility has embraced the new programs.

"We are excited ... it's going really well," Hick said. ''Now Faulkner is having their first graduating RN class. They have a great group; they are real mature. We are looking forward to getting (their) students."

Nursing shortage

Broome said USA began the program in Baldwin County for two reasons.

"There is an acute shortage (of nurses) and we had to find a creative and innovative way to solve the problem, which was opening another campus," Broome said. ''Another reason was meeting the growing need of patients in Baldwin County."

According to the most recent census numbers, Baldwin County had a growth rate of more than 40 percent between 1990 and 2000, and although new figures have not been released, growth can be seen throughout the county, be it with subdivisions popping up all over or the growing retail and business market.

Medical facilities are growing along with the county, and in the next five years the demand for hospital space in the south Baldwin area is projected to increase 16 percent, according to the Alabama Health Planning and Development Agency.

To meet this demand, Thomas Hospital is looking to expand its emergency room, North Baldwin Infirmary Foundation is in the midst of a $25 million three-story expansion campaign that would add 63,800 square feet to the Bay Minette hospital, and South Baldwin Regional Medical Center is seeking state approval to add 30 beds in a $6.7 million project.

All of these expansions will need additional health-care workers to handle the growth.

According to a 2000 survey of registered nurses by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, by 2020 the shortage of nurses nationwide was expected to grow to 800,000 or 29 percent, and in Alabama a shortage of more than 8,000 nurses is foreseen.

The results of the federal survey state that some major factors behind the nursing demand are the population growth, aging of the population and an aging RN work force.

Broome, of USA, said the county's situation is comparable to the national shortage.

"A lot of people are older and retiring," Broome said. ''It's probably very consistent with what we see nationwide. As baby boomers become older they will need much more care, putting more strain on hospitals, nursing homes, home health-care facilities and other patient services."

Win-win situation

Nursing students like Hall and Smyth are a valuable resource for health-care facilities.

USA and FSCC supply students to numerous facilities, as part of their training, in and around Baldwin County, including North Baldwin Infirmary, Thomas Hospital, South Baldwin Regional Medical Center, Foley Nursing Home, Mercy Medical, Beverly Healthcare, Westminster Village, Baptist in Pensacola and USA's medical facilities in Mobile.

"It's not only a learning ground for the students but we are offering extra labor to those hospitals," said Anita King, associate professor at USA's Fairhope campus. ''Patients love the extra attention from students ... it's a dual, win-win situation."

Hicks, from Thomas Hospital, said the relationship between the hospital and the two schools is going really well.

"The students get to know us through their clinicals and the nursing staff loves to have them," Hicks said. ''It's an opportunity to share and mentor."

From a student's point of view, Smyth said the hospital staff at Baptist Hospital in Pensacola challenge her every day.

"They push you until you can't be pushed anymore, so you can learn as much as possible," Smyth said. ''I mean they just really put it all out there for you and the more you do the more they push you to make you stronger and to teach you more. They quiz you a ton and then it makes you think of other things."

Hicks said one of the main goals of the partnership between the colleges and hospital is to retain some of the students after they graduate.

"Off the top of my head, I think we have six or seven nursing students who are working with us and will be graduating. Ninety percent of them are looking to us to continue working," Hicks said.

Hall said the staff at Foley Nursing Home were ''very happy" with the extra help during her first clinical and that even a simple bath she gave one of home's residents was fulfilling for her and the patient.

"I know by just looking at my resident, you know, just the act of bathing, that she really appreciated it," Hall said. ''I could tell she wished she could do it herself."

Age demographics

Hall, who is 50, and her 24-year-old daughter reflect the age spectrum of nursing students in the county.

King said the average student enrolled in the nursing program at USA's Fairhope campus is in her 40s.

"Often it is their second degree and maybe their second career," King said.

At Faulkner the average age is younger but steady across the board, from 17 to those over 40 years old, according to Graham, the school's director.

Hall said she was apprehensive about enrolling but ultimately decided that her interest in nursing overshadowed her age.

Smyth said her decision to switch from a pharmacy major to nursing was recently solidified during a clinical in the delivery room at Baptist Hospital.

"She was (dilated to) 9 centimeters and I ran and got the cart to deliver the baby and I was so excited, I had a glow on my face,'' Smyth said, recalling the patient who was giving birth to her fourth child.

The expectant father, who didn't previously know the baby's gender, was moved by the nursing student's exuberance, she said, and shared his excitement and appreciation. "That day for me made me decide that this is definitely what I'm going to do."

Who to call

Those interested in pursuing a career in nursing can call:

*USA's Baldwin campus at 929-1746 or visit their Web site at www.usouthal.edu/nursing .
*Faulkner State Community College at 1-800-231-3752, ext. 2257.

CUTLINES: MARC D. ANDERSON/Register Nursing students Norma Hall and Christina Smyth, who are mother and daughter, demonstrate patient assessment on ''Sally," a classroom dummy, at the University of South Alabama's Fairhope campus.

This article reproduced with special permission from the Mobile Register.