The money will support nursing workforce development and education programs, as well as geriatric education and training programs.

The grants, issued under the Health Resources and Services Administration were a part of the Affordable Care Act, signed into law by President Obama last March.

I’m eager to learn what other states received grant money, as this is a crucial step in recruiting nurses and ending our nursing shortage.

To learn more tools for nurse recruitment and retention, contact me to speak at your event or hospital.

With an average salary of $57,000 and an anticipated growth in employment of 23 percent by 2016 (as quoted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics) how can we be experiencing a shortage of potential nurses during the largest economic recession since the great depression?

One of the major causes of the nursing shortage is the lack of educators within the healthcare field. The National League for Nursing reports more than 99,000 prospective nursing students being turned away in 2008 alone.

The average age of PhD nursing professors at 59-years-old, the age of associate professors at 56 and assistant professors at 51.

We need to recruit nurses to be teachers. Who do you know who would be a great instructor?

To learn more nurse recruitment and retention information, contact me.

I just learned about the RN Work Project (www.RNWorkProject.org) This project will track career changes among newly licensed registered nurses.

With funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation until 2016, they will study RN work careers for 10 years.

Understanding the needs and challenges of new RNs is crucial understanding the supply of and demand for nurses. This study examines the first work settings of newly licensed registered nurses to learn what influences their first job choice and where they move to afterward.

About 18 % of newly licensed RNs leave their first nursing employer within a year of starting their job and 26% leave within 2 years. Of these about 92% take another nursing job with a different employer.

This study is crucial for nurse recruitment and retention. To learn more ideas, contact me.

Now many may need to be flexible about location and shifts. Graduates are getting jobs, just not always in their preferred areas.

Many new RNs aren’t finding work in their “ideal” hospital environments, but are working in nursing homes, home health care and other settings. This is a great time for these places to recruit the nurses they need.

Nursing is a calling. They will have great experiences in the other areas and, if they are like I was as a new nurse, they will be pleasantly surprised that they love the caring where ever they are!

To learn more about recruiting nurses, contact me.

For every five registered nurses Florida added in the last two years, it lost three of them, either to another state or to another profession entirely.

It’s a problem Florida cannot afford to ignore. Nursing shortages are associated with poorer patient outcomes: more pressure sores, more clinically acquired infections such as pneumonia, longer stays and higher costs.

Recruiting and training a new registered nurse can cost as much as a year’s salary. So solving the retention problem is an urgent issue.

To learn strategies to retain your best nurses, contact me.

Indeed, where once nursing grads could essentially write their own ticket and choose from several attractive job opportunities, some looking to enter our profession have had to settle for a position different from their goals.

Wise new grads will take this job, giving the best care possible as team player. When the recession ends and cut backs are eased, they can transfer into their position of choice.

Can I help you recruit the nurses you need and retain your new grads? Please contact me.

Let them see what you do, the difference you make.

Sometimes it’s good to have them follow another of your staff member too. This is a great way to recruit nurses (plus they get a great appreciation for all you do and why you might be pooped after work!)

Can I help your hospital recruit nurses and retain nurses? Contact me.

Scheduling changes, such as moving from eight-hour shifts to 12-hour shifts, meant that scheduling could be juggled to allow cutbacks without affecting nurses so dramatically.

Still, as I visit hospitals as an expert on nurse recruitment and retention, I hear that much more attention needs to be given to boosting nurse morale. This is the best nurse retention tool.

To learn how I can help with nurse recruitment and retention at your hospital, contact me.

One of their best nurse recruitment tools? There has been an upswing in employee referrals, with about 50 percent of applicants are referred by current employees.

My Each One Reach One Nurse initiative teaches hospitals and employees how to do that. For information, contact me .

The Labor Secretary revealed plans to stimulate the economy with the bill’s funds while touring the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas and the Shawnee County Community Health Care Clinic in Topeka. These Kansas clinics and medical centers are among the areas that need the most help, as recruitment and retention of nurses and other workers is most difficult in rural areas.

With baby boomers aging and needing further medical care, the need for nurses and health care workers will only increase. The Labor Department aims to take advantage of this medical necessity by providing workers with a chance to start over in a field that is both lucrative and necessary.

I’m eager to see when these funds are released and to whom. I have found no applications process for this. If you learn more, please post a comment and share.

To learn more recruitment ideas, see www.NurseRecruitmentandRetention.com