Nurse Shortage Warning Given

              ES
By Hospital Group Head
Nurse Shortage
Warning Given
By Margaret Martin
Times Medical Writer
Ten hospitals in Shreveport
and Bossier City are
operating with a shortage of
174 registered nurses and the
number is expected to climb
to about 400 by the end of
1975, according to James K.
Elrod, president of the North-west
District Louisiana
Hospital Association.
The 10 hospitals are Bossier
City General, Veterans Ad-ministration,
Confederate
Memorial Medical Center,
Shrine Hospital for Crippled
Children, Doctors, Physicians
and Surgeons, Fairfield, Wil-lis
- Knighton, Schumpert and
Highland.
Elrod released the figures
as part of a statewide nursing
shortage survey just com-pleted
by the Louisiana
Hospital Association.
The Northwest District
initiated the survey after a,
statement by Dr. Peggy Led-better,
president of the,
Louisiana State Nurses As-sociation,
that there may be a
maldistribution of nurses in
Louisiana, but no shortage.
Dr. Ledbetter, dean of the
Northwestern State Univer-sity
College of Nursing, also
said that she thinks there are
too many nursing schools in
the state. There are seven
baccalaureate programs in
Louisiana, including two that
are not nationally accredited,
she stated.
Need 16 Per Hospital
The LHA report shows that
Shreveport's 11 hospitals are
facing an average shortage of
about 16 nurses per hospital,
with problems . especially
acute on the evening and
night shifts, Elrod said.
He predicted that the shor-tage
would jump to about 400
nurses by the end of 1975
because of normal expansion
of bed capacity, increased
services and attrition.
"This," he added, "would
shoot the average shortage of
registered nurses up to more
than 36 per hospital in our
area."
Elrod pointed out in the
prepared statement that some
critics have claimed there is
no nurse shortage, only an
apparent shortage due to poor
distribution, and that there is
the danger of oversupply of
registered nurses if additional
schools of nursing are
established.
No Unemployment
In response to these critics,
Elrod said, "The facts and
figures belie the fear of nurse
unemployment, invalidate the
presumption that there are
already too many nursing
schools in Louisiana and cast
suspicion on any decision to
bar the opening of any
schools approved by the
(LSU) Board of Supervisors
and the State Coordinating
Council for Higher
Education."
"The future availability of
nurses who provide continuity
for a patient's care, whether
it be curative, restorative or
preventive, will be a critical
factor in the successful
operation of our total health
care system.
"If we are to move closer
to the goal of good health
care for every citizen of the
Shreveport - Bossier area —
and the State of Louisiana —
we must have a stronger com-mitment
to the education and
training of more nurses," he
said.