Report Title:
Nursing Task Force
Description:
Creates a Nursing Task Force to investigate and recommend ways to assist the public and private sectors to relieve the nursing shortage and ensure a continuous, adequate supply of nurses to staff hospitals and other medical facilities in the state.
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
1990 |
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TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO NURSING.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. Recent studies have shown a direct correlation between the amount of time a nurse spends with each patient each day, and the patient's outcome. This is especially true for elderly patients. The availability of nurses is essential to public health.
However, the legislature finds that currently, there are thirty-three states, including Hawaii, that are experiencing nursing shortages. By 2020, that number is expected to grow to forty-four states.
The legislature further finds that twenty-eight per cent of the nurses in the workforce are over fifty years of age, and forty-eight per cent are between thirty-five and forty-nine years old. History shows that most nurses retire between the ages of fifty-three and fifty-six. The impending retirement of the most highly-trained and experienced nurses will exacerbate the nursing crisis.
As the nursing population moves toward retirement, hospitals will find it increasingly difficult to reach sufficient staffing levels. The public health of Hawaii will be greatly and adversely impacted if the State does not move to ensure an adequate supply of qualified nurses to staff its hospitals and other medical facilities.
The purpose of this Act is to create a nursing task force to investigate and recommend ways to assist the public and private sectors to relieve the nursing shortage and ensure a continuous, adequate supply of nurses to staff hospitals and other medical facilities in the state.
SECTION 2. There is established a temporary nursing task force, placed within the department of health for administrative purposes only, to investigate and recommend ways to assist the public and private sectors to relieve the nursing shortage and ensure a continuous, adequate supply of nurses to staff hospitals in the state, including:
(1) Increasing the University of Hawaii's ability to educate nurses at an increased capacity;
(2) Determining whether the private sector is interested in establishing an accredited nursing school in Hawaii, and what incentives can be offered;
(3) Recruiting individuals with medical training who have recently separated from the armed forces to enroll in the University of Hawaii school of nursing, and determining whether these individuals can be awarded academic credit for their military medical training or experience;
(4) Establishing a program in which nursing students can be awarded tuition credits if they enter into a written contract with the school agreeing to work as nurses in the state for a certain period of time; and
(5) Establishing incentives to recruit nurses from other states.
The task force shall also create a five-year strategic plan to integrate its findings and recommendations, and proposed legislation to implement the strategic plan.
SECTION 3. The task force shall consist of no more than twenty-five members as follows:
(1) The director of the department of health, or a designee, who shall serve as the chairperson of the task force;
(2) The chair of the department of labor and industrial relations workforce development council, or a designee;
(3) A representative appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives;
(4) A senator appointed by the president of the senate;
(5) A representative member of the city and county of Honolulu workforce investment board;
(6) Representative chancellors of the University of Hawaii community colleges;
(7) The dean of the University of Hawaii John A. Burns school of medicine, or a designee;
(8) The dean of the school of nursing and dental hygiene of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, or a designee;
(9) The president of Hawaii Pacific University, or a designee;
(10) A representative of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii;
(11) A representative from the Hawaii Nurses Association;
(12) The president of Hawaii Healthcare Systems Corporation, or a designee;
(13) The president of Hawaii Pacific Health, or a designee;
(14) The president of the Queen's Medical Center, or a designee;
(15) The president of the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, or a designee;
(16) The president of Hawaii Air Ambulance, or a designee;
(17) A representative from the employee recruitment firm industry in Hawaii; and
(18) Any other agency or designee deemed appropriate by the director of health.
SECTION 4. The members shall serve without compensation but shall be reimbursed for expenses, including travel expenses, necessary for the performance of their duties as members of the nursing task force.
SECTION 5. The nursing task force shall submit a report to the legislature of its findings and recommendations and the five-year strategic plan, including any proposed legislation, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2007.
SECTION 6. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2006-2007 for the operations of the temporary nursing task force.
The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of health for the purposes of this Act.
SECTION 7. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2006.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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