Jeanette Lancaster

School plans expansion to address nursing shortage

By Rebecca Arrington

In response to the nursing shortage at University Hospital and nationwide, Nursing School Dean Jeanette Lancaster told the board that her school will increase the number of students in its undergraduate and master's programs by 20 students this fall. The school also plans to hire three new faculty members. Future enrollment growth will depend on resources, she said. Citing space needs, she proposed an addition to McLeod Hall. Estimated to cost $13.2 million and take three years to complete, the addition would expand classroom, research and office space by 30,000 square feet.

About 40 percent of nurses graduating from U.Va. go to work at University Hospital, Lancaster said. Incentive packages are being developed to encourage more nurses to stay, she noted. "We are also intensifying recruitment of male nurses, as they stay in the profession longer than women nurses."

"Resources to meet the Nursing School's goals are being put in place," said Leonard W. Sandridge, executive vice president and chief operating officer. "We will be recruiting heavily at PVCC, too, to keep nurses in the area."

U.Va. Rector John P. Ackerly III suggested establishing a scholarship in which nurses would have to work at the hospital "five years or so, as part of their scholarship agreement," he said.

Lancaster attributed the nursing shortage, nationwide, to a decrease in the number of students interested in pursuing a nursing degree, to an aging nursing workforce (the average age of a nurse is 45.2 years) and aging nursing faculty (average age 49 years), and the challenging environment of today's hospitals.

Other business

• Sasha Wilson was named the next student board member. She is a fourth-year English major in the Curry School of Education's five-year master's program.

• As of Dec. 31, the endowment stood at almost $1.79 billion.

• The Medical Center currently has a healthy financial status, according to associate vice president for finance Larry Fitzgerald. The operating margin for the first half of FY 2001 is $10.4 million, or 5 percent -- slightly below this year's budget margin of 5.1 percent but above the prior year's 4 percent margin, he said.