| July 1, 2001 |
Contact: Roban
Johnson |
Printed in Macon Telegraph, June 30, 2001
A report presented to the state Board of Community Health this week documents a worsening shortage among nurses and other key health care professionals throughout Georgia.
The report, "Code Blue: Workforce in Crisis," was issued by the Health Care Workforce Technical Advisory Committee. The committee was appointed by the Georgia's Health Strategies Council and the Department of Community Health, and included representatives from the health care industry, education and government.
Vacancy rates of 10 percent to 20 percent among nurses, health and behavioral health care professionals have become common in hospitals, nursing homes and public sector programs, and the shortage Georgia is experiencing is shared by states across the country.
The report points to several contributing factors, including population growth, the aging of the population, the current health care work force, declining numbers of new recruits and graduates in health-care professions, and an increasingly challenging work environment in health care.
In presenting the report to the Board of Community Health, Commissioner Russ Toal said, "Work force shortages are threatening to destroy our health-care infrastructure."
The General Assembly has awarded funding for an additional 76 nursing scholarships in the coming year. The Georgia Student Finance Commission also has increased the amount of money available for service-cancelable loans and has started several pilot projects to support new health career programs.
The Department of Community Health is moving forward with the appointment of a standing health care work force policy advisory committee.
Dr. Douglas Skelton, senior vice president for university research and health affairs at Mercer University and former commissioner of the Department of Human Resources, has agreed to serve as chair of the policy committee.
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