Suzanne Yarbrough, Ph.D., M.S.N., R.N., UT Health Science Center School of Nursing associate dean for undergraduate programs, announced the hospital council has purchased a new computer program that will place 20 percent more nursing students from the region in area hospitals for clinical training.
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A new collaboration through the Greater San Antonio Hospital Council, announced May 2 at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, will help more student nurses get the clinical training they need to enter the workforce.

Software to help place more nursing students
A regional consortium has just purchased a new computer software program that will help 20 percent more nursing students from the region’s six nursing schools get the clinical training they need through area hospitals. The announcement was made by Suzanne Yarbrough, Ph.D., M.S.N., R.N., associate dean for undergraduate programs at the UT Health Science Center and academic co-chair of the council’s Nurse Executive Forum.

National Nursing Week
Health Science Center School of Nursing Dean Eileen Breslin, Ph.D., R.N., welcomed the hospital council to the campus for the news conference that focused on the council’s progress in meeting the challenges facing the profession and the kick-off of National Nursing Week May 5-9.

National shortage spurs job opportunities in nursing
Although nursing is already the largest health care occupation, it tops the list of the 30 occupations in the United States expected to have the biggest employment growth through 2016, according to the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In proclaiming National Nurses Week, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff stressed the importance of increasing the number of nurses. “The demand for nurses will be greater than ever before to provide for our ever expanding population,” he said.

More nurses will be needed to care for aging Baby Boomers, future generations of patients and to replace nurses who retire from the profession.

Holding the proclamation for National Nurses Week are (left to right) Methodist Healthcare Chief Nurse Executive Polly Davenport, UT Health Science Center School of Nursing Dean Eileen Breslin, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, Health Science Center Associate Dean Suzanne Yarbrough, University of the Incarnate Word Nursing School Dean Kathleen Light and Greater San Antonio Hospital Council Executive Vice President Harry Smith.

More students creates competition for training
To meet this challenge, Dr. Yarbrough said, “All of the deans and directors of the local nursing schools are doing all that we can to increase the size of our classes to meet the increasing need for nurses by graduating more students each year. One major barrier to increasing class sizes is that we must be able to provide more opportunities for the students to practice with actual patients in the authentic patient care environment,” Dr. Yarbrough explained.

“In 2006, we placed approximately 1,300 students from each of the licensed vocational nurse, associate degree and bachelor’s degree programs. In 2008, we are competing to place 2,500 students at the hospitals in the San Antonio area,” she said.

Software to assist with clinical training placements
“So this year, the Nursing Executive Forum, in collaboration with the Greater San Antonio Hospital Council, the Alamo Workforce Center and our community collaboration partners, are purchasing a computer software package that will help facilitate student placements in all of our health care facilities. This will help us maximize our teaching resources and increase the number of graduates from each school,” Dr. Yarbrough said.

Area patients safer due to changes initiated by Nurse Executive Forum
Also at the news conference, Polly Davenport, B.S.N., M.B.A., R.N., immediate past co-chair of the Nurse Executive Forum and chief nursing executive at Methodist Healthcare, spoke about several other citywide initiatives that have improved patient safety and quality of care. Nurses have been an integral part in creating and implementing improvements, such as consistency in how hospital patients are identified and stopping the use of medical abbreviations that could be misinterpreted, she said.

Wolff initiated area efforts to improve hospital care, address nursing shortage
A concerted effort to resolve local challenges related to nursing and hospital care began in September 2001 during a health care summit organized by Judge Wolff. One goal of the summit was to lessen the impact of a growing population that requires hospital days, combined with a shortage of nurses working in hospitals.

Long-term growth expected for nursing profession
“The flip side of the strains that a nursing shortage can cause is that there has never been a better time to enter the nursing profession,” said Kathleen Light, Ed.D., M.S.N., R.N., professor and dean of the University of the Incarnate Word School of Nursing and past president of the Texas Nurses Association.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ "2008-2009 Occupational Outlook Handbook," the nursing profession is expected to grow much faster than the national average — 23.5 percent through 2016. There are approximately 2.5 million registered nurses. More than 3 million nurses will be needed by 2016, an increase of more than 587,000 nurses.

The Nurse Executive Forum of the Greater San Antonio Hospital includes nursing professionals from across the region representing hospitals, schools of nursing including the UT Health Science Center, and other health care-related institutions that employ staff nurses.