A rural state's response to the nursing shortage. Nevada's story.

Abstract

This article describes how the nursing leadership in Nevada is responding to the nursing shortage crisis. The Nevada Hospital Association and Nevada legislature have supported statewide educational initiatives. Outcomes of a task force include recommendations to improve articulation agreements between schools of nursing and community colleges, external funding for summer salaries for faculty, efforts to recruit and retain minority and other nontraditional students, reallocation of financial resources among all universities and colleges in the state, reexamination of state-mandated faculty-to-student ratios, and changes in the work environment to encourage nurses to remain in the profession. A plan was developed to double enrollments in nursing schools through federal and state funding strategies, creative scheduling, and academic resource support.