University Daily Kansan, June 12, 1980
Page 5
KUMC staff increase eases nursing shortage
By MARLIN BERRY
Staff Reporter
Higher pay and a $25,000 media campaign have eased but not solved the nursing shortage at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
The addition of Bell Memorial Hospital to the Med Center was one cause of the shortage. However, a staff increase of 101 this year will bring the Med Center closer to a full staff than it has been in four years.
Some night shifts are still short of help, but the 110 new staff members should remedy the shortage when they complete an orientation session this week. Mary Amm Eisenbise, director of Nursing Services, said recently.
Summer student help and volunteer assistants will also be used to bring the Med Center closer to a full staff. The Med Center will lose student help in September and will again face a struggle to find nurses, Eigenbise said.
THE SHORTAGE of nurses at the Med Center caused nurses to work overtime and extra shifts to operate all medical units of the hospital.
In July, 1979, the Med Center adopted differential pay shifts to attract more nurses to working late shifts, Eisenbise said.
Nurses working the evening shift, 3 to 11 p.m., make five percent more than nurses who work the day shift. On the
night shift, 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., the increase is 10 percent.
"The differential pay has helped somewhat," Eisenbise said, "but it's still hard to get nurses to work evenings."
NURSES ARE mainly in their early 20s, Eisenbise said, and sometimes their ages causes scheduling problems.
"The younger nurses want more free time," she said. "They want to work in the day so many choose to work in offices or school care practices."
The Med Center also launched a media campaign in October to try to recruit nurses.
Only six new nurses were hired from a $25,000 promotional campaign that included hiring a consultant, advertising on radio and in newspapers, and sending posters and pamphlets to nursing schools nationwide.
Beth McPherson, assistant director of University Relations for the Med Center, said they planned to continue to use media programs to recruit nurses in an effort to keep up with the need for new nurses.
"I's really hard to tell how many new new staff members were hired due to the campaign because the turd was so successful so is great." McPheron said.
BONNIE HOWARD, acting executive administrator for the Kansas State
Board of Nursing in Topeka, said that she thought the nursing shortage was the result of a change in attitude."
"I think nursing used to be a status position much like a public school teacher. Howard said. "However, nurses also need to be led to the overall decline in nurses."
"Most of them would like to have hours that correspond to their husbands," she said.
Eisenbise said many nurses were married to men who worked during the day.
The School of Nursing also admitted 43 more students to the program last fall to try to relieve the shortage. The student enrolment has been increased by 25.
But Eisenbise said the increase would not completely alleviate the shortage because nurses left the Med Center so they can work during the day.
She said it took about three nursing graduates to retain one registered nurse.
Although hospitals across the nation have continued to battle to maintain full nursing staffs, enrollment at Kansas nursings school has been increasing.
"All 12 schools that produce licensed and registered nurses in Kansas have maintained a steady enrollment with no cases of illness in many cases an increase." Howard said.
Dorms house summer campers
By CHICK HOWLAND Staff Reporter
All but one of the KU residence halls have been turned into revenue-generating hotels for the summer. They now house everything from a bank management clinic to a science fiction workshop.
Summer tenants will pay an estimated $500,000 to rent in the residence halls, but with operating expenses totaling about $10 million, the company has the major source of income, J. Wilson, director of housing, said this week.
"It helps with maintenance and service bills," Wilson said. "It's obviously something we want to encourage. We could stand more."
BUT WILSON said all groups must
have good reasons for wanting to use the residence halls.
"Our test is that a group has to have an educational connection with the University," he said.
Wallace R. May, director of conferences and centers, said the recent bankers clink brought over 700 bankers too large to be housed at local hotels.
Programs such as the American Legion Boys' State have been bringing programs to KU and the residence halls for more than 10 years, he said. Boys' State paid $40,000 for room and board for a week-long stay.
At Oliver Hall, the only residence hall to open students during the summer, the atmosphere is more studious than during the school year. Jane Tuttle, Oliver director, said she thinks students are a little more serious in the summer.
"THERE IS A real difference during summer school," Tuttle said.
"A lot of students study a lot. My experience has been that people are more academically oriented in summer school."
Another difference Tuttle noticed in the summer is the amount of foreign and older students living at Oliver.
"The vast majority of residents are way over 20 which is unusual for a residence hall," she said.
There are now 291 students living in Oliver, about half the figure for the regular school year.
Tuttle estimated that 75 percent of those living at Oliver during the summer were foreign students.
"They all want to live with a native American speaker," Tuttle said. "There just aren't enough to go around."
- NORTHSIDE 2ND & LINCOLN 833-5733 * SOUTHSIDE 23RD & LOUISEA 843-8688 *
* HILLESTRIE 91TH & TOWA 823-9414 * STRIDGE 91TH & KASOAL 841-0144 *
* HILLESTRIE 91TH & TOWA 823-9414 * BAKERY 841-4274 *
Welcome Students To A Summer Of Savings On Your Food Bill
We Can Help You Fight Inflation
Here's all You Have to do!
1 Pick up your Inflation Fighter Golden Certificate at your participating GA store 10542
2. Each time you shop get your FREE Inflation Fighter Golden Coupons and paste them on your certificate one for each whole *1 of purchases excluding sales tax
When you fill your golden certificate, redeem it towards our weekly inflation Fighter Certificate Specials. Watch our ad and save money
Inflation Fighter Golden Certificates
Ad Prices available through June 16