Adapted from The State: Hospitals, colleges get creative to cope with nursing shortage
By Linda H. Lamb
In Florence South Carolina at the McLeod Regional Medical Center, every hospital has nurse managers who supervise and mentor nurses and a “nurse liaison” who makes 860 nurses’ problems her business. “If you take care of your nurses, the nurses will take care of your patients,” Marie Segars, top nurse and vice president for patient services.
South Carolina has been facing a nursing shortage and has found creative ways to cope with the issue. “It has to be more than salary,” said Peggy Deane, senior vice president for patient care services at Anderson Area Medical Center. “It has to be the culture and the environment.”
At McLeod Regional Medical Center Renee Kennedy makes 860 nurses’ problems her business. A new nurse has trouble adjusting? An experienced nurse has a conflict with her supervisor? Kennedy is there, trying to mediate little problems before they become big ones.
Tony Derrick, a nursing director in the emergency department, said having a nurse liaison helps him. Sometimes nurses will talk to her about troubles they’re not comfortable broaching with a supervisor, he said.
Comments