The hospital's board signs a contract with a company to help recruit nurses as the nationwide shortage worsens. The hospital's governing board late last month agreed to sign a contract with Nurses to U.S.A. Inc., which will help Citrus Memorial recruit nurses from the Philippines. The company already has helped shore up the nursing ranks at the Shands hospitals and Munroe Regional Medical Center in Ocala. Julia Doucette, the director of human resources at Citrus Memorial, said her Munroe counterpart praised the program as professional and beneficial. Registered nurses are in short supply in Florida as well as nationwide.
Experts offer several theories.
No matter the reason for the shortage, the need for more nurses in Florida is indisputable. The patient pool, like the state's population as a whole, continues to increase. A Florida Hospital Association study commissioned last year said nearly 40 percent of hospitals consider the nursing shortage severe in critical care wards while 20 percent used the word severe to describe the shortage of bedside and surgical nurses. Doucette said Citrus Memorial hasn't experienced a significant problem. Citrus also offers scholarships to employees and even non-employees who wish to become nurses.