Missouri's hospitals face growing employee shortage, MHA says

The work-force shortage facing Missouri hospitals shows no sign of diminishing, according to a recent report issued by the Missouri Hospital Association.

A lack of nurses, medical technicians, pharmacists and other trained health care professionals has the potential to severely restrict the availability of health care services now and in the future, MHA warns in the report titled "2002 Workforce Status in Missouri Hospitals: An Overview."

"At the core of the problem is the growing elderly population in the United States and the reduced pool of young people entering the work force," said Mary Becker, MHA senior vice president of communications, education and health improvement.

By 2020, the population age 65 and older in Missouri will grow by 44 percent. Because advances in medicine will enable people with chronic diseases to live longer, more elderly people will require health care services in the future, Becker said.

Just as patients are aging, so are health-care workers. For example, the average age of a registered nurse in Missouri in 2000 was 45. By 2015, half of all registered nurses will retire, and not enough students are enrolled in nursing programs to replace those nurses.

Enrollment in entry-level bachelor's degree programs fell 17 percent from 1996 to 2000, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

Becker attributes declining enrollments in nursing and other health professional schools to a number of factors, including:

the perception, in an information economy, that health care is not a high-tech job;

the perception that health care jobs may not be stable and secure;

an expansion in career options for women;

health care work schedules that are perceived as less flexible than other jobs; and

an increase in the amount of paperwork required of health care workers.

"People trust us to keep them well, care for them with all the latest technology and medicine when they're ill, and to provide the highest quality care at the least expensive cost," Becker said. "They aren't aware, however, of all the challenges we face in meeting their expectations."

To address the work force problem, MHA is working with its member hospitals to encourage community leaders to become active leaders in addressing work force issues that directly affect communities' abilities to attract and retain businesses. MHA is working with public schools to make students aware of health care careers as secure, rewarding, diverse and high-tech, Becker said.

In addition, MHA has created a $1 million scholarship program designed to help more health care students complete their professional training and enter the work force.