UCSF report points out nurse shortage
As California registered nurses reach the age of retirement,
their posts are going unfilled by younger employees, resulting in a
statewide shortage.
This trend has been identified by the UC San Francisco Center
for Health Professions in its report, “Nursing in California:
A Workforce Crisis,” released on Monday.
According to Edward O’Neil, the director of the Center and
the principal investigator in the study, this shortage is
intrinsically different than past nurse shortages.
“This is not just another cyclical shortage of nurses that
can be rapidly cured by paying nurses higher wages and enrolling
more students in nursing schools,” O’Neil said.
One out of every five nurses in California is 55 years or older
in a profession that expects retirement around 60. As the pool of
applicants dwindles, the industry is faced with an economic problem
typical of other industries.
“Nursing will have to re-position itself as an attractive
career to compete successfully for the interest of people entering
the work force,” O’Neil said.
The report suggests bringing the nursing industry up to speed
with modern businesses. It calls for a greater labor involvement in
management, and more room for financial rewards within the system.
Other suggestions include attracting non-white and male nursing
students and taking steps to make nursing education more accessible
to the general public.
Anderson forecast turns out pretty close
The Anderson Business Forecast beat the odds with its projection
that real gross domestic product would increase marginally during
the fourth quarter.
The U.S. Department of Commerce reported an increase of 1.4
percent while the Anderson predicted a growth of only 1.3 percent.
Other forecasts showed a 3 percent increase, according to the
business wire.
“Most of these other forecasters failed the test,”
said Edward Leamer, a professor at the Anderson School at UCLA and
director of the forecast.
The Anderson forecast differed from other forecasts, Leamer
said, because it focused on data particular to long periods of
economic expansions such as those during the presidencies of
Kennedy and Johnson, Reagan and Clinton.
“You find out that some things don’t matter very
much,” Leamer said. “A lot of reports about consumer
expectations falling, that’s not a very good
predictor.”
Instead, Leamer focussed on three statistics:
“¢bull; The difference in short and long-term interest rates
given by banks which determines to whom banks can safely lend
money.
“¢bull; Net profitability of companies.
“¢bull; Manufacturing hours which decreased from 42 hours per
worker a week to 41 signaling that businesses couldn’t afford
to pay for the overtime.
Does Leamer have anything to say to the other forecasts across
the nation he was able to beat?
“No, that’s enough, I’m gloating enough as it
is here,” he said.
Research targets sea cliff destruction
The research of structural engineers at UC San Diego will
culminate in a comprehensive, publicly accessible guidebook on the
preservation of fragile sea cliffs.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency estimated that a quarter
of the homes within 500 feet of the U.S. coast could be lost to
erosion within the next 50 years.
“One of our major goals is to pinpoint the most efficient
and effective ways to resolve this growing crisis, while
maintaining the environmental integrity of the landscape,”
said Scott Ashford, project leader and professor of geotechnical
engineering at the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering.
Compiled from Daily Bruin staff and wire reports.