Hoag points to need for new nurses

Country music singer and former nurse Naomi Judd among lunch guests stressing shortage.A predicted nursing shortage in California, described by speakers at a Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian luncheon Tuesday, can be illustrated with numbers.

It’s estimated that the state will need 125,000 new nurses over the next five years. About 40,000 students are projected to graduate from California nursing schools, according to Rick Martin, Hoag’s vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer.

“California is likely to experience one of the greatest shortages in the nation,” said Martin, a registered nurse. “There aren’t enough nursing schools or nursing professors in the state to accommodate students.”

In addressing the same issue, country music singer Naomi Judd, the event’s keynote speaker, took the anecdotal route. She launched into tales about her brief nursing career and expressed gratitude for the medical care she received while overcoming hepatitis C.

“You are my people,” Judd said to the audience of medical professionals, Hoag board members and hospital donors at the Balboa Bay Club. “I’ve heard a lot of good things are going on at Hoag. If I was going to go back, [into the nursing profession] I’d be in your midst.”

Community members and Hoag Hospital benefactors were honored at the annual event, sponsored by Choose Nursing, Choose Hoag, a Hoag Hospital Foundation task force charged with raising money to support the hospital’s efforts to train new nurses and educate the public about the nursing shortfall.

In the past year, task force members have raised $900,000 toward funding nine professorships. In the program, each nursing instructor is asked to train 12 students who would otherwise be on a nursing school waiting list, Martin said.

Two professorships each are being held at Saddleback College and Golden West College.

Martin said the average nursing school in the state has a waiting list of 150 to 200 students.

“These young people won’t wait forever,” Martin said. “We need to keep the door open for them.”

If all goes as planned, nurse training will take place at Hoag’s campus beginning next year, when the Marion Knott Nursing Education Center is scheduled to open.

Knott, a longtime Newport Beach resident and former partner of Knott’s Berry Farm, gave the hospital the lead donation of more than $700,000 earlier this year.

When she learned how long it took some students to get into their medical training programs, Knott said she was determined to make a difference.

“Kids are having to wait for two years, and that’s troubling,” Knott said. “It’s absolutely necessary to train more nurses in this country.”

The education center will be in the hospital’s old maternity ward and will provide training space for nursing students performing rotations, as well as current nurses and new hires at the hospital.

Ken Beall, chairman of Choose Nursing, Choose Hoag, said raising money for the projected $2-million center is one of the focuses this year.

“There are lots of opportunities for nurses to continue their education and get more credentials,” Beall said.

Hoag Hospital has about 1,200 nurses and was recently awarded magnet certification for its work in promoting nursing training and education.

Beall said his task force is making visits to area schools to promote the nursing profession. Martin said he is waging a statewide campaign to make nursing education a priority.

The general public isn’t feeling the pain of a nursing shortage yet, he said, but that could change if current trends continue.

“Hospitals will have to close down nursing units and cancel surgeries,” Martin said.

* ELIA POWERS is the enterprise and general assignment reporter. He may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or by e-mail at [email protected].

20051012io823vknDOUGLAS ZIMMERMAN / DAILY PILOT(LA)Naomi Judd, right, talks with Marion Knott, a founding benefactor of the Hoag Hospital Nursing Education Center.