As the number of nursing vacancies continues to mushroom nationwide, keeping seasoned nurses on the job has become more important than ever. In Michigan, they're addressing the problem by training nurses to transition into less-taxing work rather than retire out of the workforce entirely. Next year, the Michigan State University College of Nursing and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation plan to launch a program which will train hospital nurses to work in alternate settings such as long-term, hospice and ambulatory care. The program is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Northwest Health Foundation. As things stand, about 40,000 Michigan nurses should retire by 2012, leaving a shortage of 7,000 to 8,000 openings, according to MSU College of Nursing associate dean Teresa Wehrwein. RWJF is funding similar initiatives in Colorado, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, Hawaii, Mississippi, Montana, California and Alaska.
Learn more about the program:
- get the details from this Lansing State Journal article
- read the RWJF release