Recruiting and keeping registered nurses has always been a priority for Linda Wallace, the vice president for patient care services and chief nursing officer at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital.

But Wallace and her staff have taken note of a predicted major nursing shortage by the year 2020 and decided to combat the problem early.

A recent disbursement from the Moore Regional Hospital Foundation will fund a new nursing position that will focus on nursing recruitment and retention. The R.N. transition/retention specialist works with senior nursing students who are interested in Moore Regional as well as new R.N. graduates who are entering the profession, newly hired experienced nurses, current nursing employees and nursing supervisors in an attempt to increase retention, improve recruitment efforts and increase R.N. satisfaction.

Long-term, the goal is to strengthen the hospital's registered nursing work force.

"There are so many opportunities outside the hospital setting that allow nurses to work weekdays, no holidays and no night shifts," Wallace says. "The R.N. transition/retention specialist will direct her attention to retaining nurses in the acute-care environment or hospital setting. Our goal is to promote hospital nursing and retain experienced nurses."

At $250,700, the foundation disbursement funds a three-year pilot program. The success of the program's goals will be evaluated at six-month intervals.

"We'll be looking at retention rates, job satisfaction and new strategies used with the nursing supervisors to improve retention," Wallace says. "We believe this new role will make a very positive difference and expect that it will be continued after the three-year pilot."

Julianne Clodfleter, a registered nurse, assumed the role of nursing transition and retention specialist earlier this month. Previously a clinical compliance analyst in corporate compliance, she began her nursing career with FirstHealth in 1998 as a nursing assistant before progressing to LPN and R.N. while earning her associate degree in nursing from Central Carolina Community College in Sanford and her BSN and MSN/MHA from the University of Phoenix.

Patient Simulator

A second Foundation disbursement ($110,000) will allow the FirstHealth Regional EMS System to acquire a computerized human simulator that will let paramedics and nurses experience real-patient scenarios in a classroom setting.

"Using a Clinical Human Simulator program with specific clinical ailments, members of the nursing and EMS staff will evaluate, apply the appropriate treatment and make appropriate clinical decisions," says David Carter, director of the FirstHealth Regional EMS System. "The simulator can grade the effectiveness of the learner's performance in a scenario that can be replayed so nurses and paramedics can review their critical thinking skills."

According to Deana Kearns, assistant director for clinical practice and professional development at Moore Regional, the patient simulator is a lifelike mannequin that mimics the workings of the human body.

"It breathes, blinks, changes color, has a pulse and many other features," she says. "Its use, which provides a simulated patient experience with no risk to actual patients, will help us uncover performance concerns and structure our learning experiences."

Among the groups expected to benefit from the patient simulator's use are the staffs of FirstHealth EMS and Critical Care Transport as well as experienced and new graduate nurses, the hospital's Code Blue (medical emergency) team and participants in life support classes.

Other Grants

During a recent meeting of its Grants Review Committee, the Moore Regional Hospital Foundation also approved the following disbursements:

n $30,660 to allow Moore Regional Hospital's Inpatient and Outpatient Rehabilitation departments to become site providers for the Bioness Ness L300 system.

The state-of-the-art, wireless, functional, electric stimulation system is designed to help patients with upper motor neuron injuries that result in foot drop. Moore Regional will be only the seventh facility in North Carolina to partner with Bioness, a national provider of medical neurological devices, to offer the service.

n $11,000 to send six members of the Moore Regional nursing staff to an upcoming session of the National Teaching Institute and Critical Care Exposition.

For more information on the Moore Regional Hospital Foundation, call 695-7500.