MSU Denver working to address nursing shortage while facing own set of challenges
As hospitals work to navigate a nationwide shortage of nurses and other health care professionals, universities that are trying to fill those gaps are seeing their own challenges.
"Getting into nursing school is not easy. I am pretty sure it took 10 years off my life," Lindsey Chard said. The Metropolitan State University of Denver senior is now months away from graduating and well aware of the weight that will be on her shoulders entering the workforce.
"I think it's hard because it's all about perspective," Chard said. "And I think it's really easy to get burned out. Our profession asks for us to give a lot and not get a lot. It's finding those moments that really create an impact and make a difference."
She's entering at a time when the jobs are definitely there. At a hiring event held by MSU Denver this week, health systems were in full recruiting mode.
"We are willing to do anything to get our department staffed," a representative for Centura Health said.
Terry Buxton is the chair of the nursing department at the university and she says the pandemic is partly to blame for what is now a nationwide staffing shortage.
"They turned their hostilities and frustrations about the disease onto the nurses who were caring for them. So many, many nurses left the bedside, and we are trying to do a reboot for that system," she said.
But colleges face their own struggles. Their nursing programs can only accept so many students, and there's now a lack of qualified nurses to train those they do have -- both in the classroom and in the field.
"It's kind of like the chicken and the egg -- you can't have one or the other, you have to have both," Buxton said.
MSU Denver is trying something new by bringing those health systems to students, putting more emphasis on networking and doing it long before they're looking for a job.
"They really care and that has really helped with all of the hurdles all of us as individuals have had to accomplish and overcome," Chard said.
