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COPYRIGHT 2001 Haymarket Media, Inc.
Lawmakers from both parties have proposed several bills to increase the number of nurses in the country and to help nursing homes and other healthcare facilities train their nurses
Indicating that the nursing shortage is resonating in Washington, Republican and Democratic lawmakers recently proposed bills to help recruit more individuals into the nursing profession and to better train nurses working in nursing homes and other healthcare facilities.
All of the proposed bills would establish a national nursing corps, through which individuals in or entering nursing schools could receive scholarships if they agree to serve after graduation in areas with nursing shortages.
The bills are an attempt to infuse the labor market with nurses to alleviate the present crisis and to prevent any future healthcare crisis, which may occur in just over a decade when 76 million baby boomers (people born between 1946 and 1964) begin reaching retirement age.
"This is a bipartisan issue, and it is becoming a nationwide concern," said Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-AR), author of one bill to address the staffing shortage.
Trade groups representing both nurses and nursing homes said they support the bills recently introduced in Congress.
Oh, nurses, where art thou?
According to the...
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