CampusRN Job Blog
Health care jobs surge during recession
Monday, April 09, 2012
Iowa’s health care industry is about as close to being recession-proof as you can get.
Despite continuing structural and financial changes, it was the only Iowa industry to add significant numbers of new jobs during the recession.
State labor statistics show it added 5,500 jobs between May 2008 and December 2009. During the same period Iowa’s total nonfarm employment fell by 66,600. Since then, the Iowa economy has added back 34,100 jobs, including 4,300 in health care.
Although health care continues to add jobs, the types of jobs are changing as the industry is pulled and pushed by shifting demographics, new technology and cuts in government funding.
In the last year alone, Mercy Medical Center Des Moines saw its Medicaid payments reduced by $17.5 million, while the hospital’s Medicare payments have been cut by $9 million over the last three years, said Joseph LeValley, Mercy’s senior vice president of planning and advocacy.
Those and other cuts are pushing more hospital procedures down to the outpatient and clinic level, areas where the employment growth is occurring, LeValley said.
Mercy opened its first clinic in the Des Moines area 20 years ago and now has 40 metro-area clinics, he said.
Iowa Hospital Association spokesman Scott McIntyre agreed that most hospitals are not adding jobs, although they are typically among the largest employers in their local communities.
Iowa’s 118 hospitals employ about 69,000 people, McIntyre said, although statewide there are about 2,000 fewer hospital jobs now than in 2008.
New medical jobs are created daily
One area where an explosion of employment is just beginning, McIntyre said, is med tech record keeping. Most doctors are just beginning to convert patient records and billing procedures from handwritten to digital text that can be stored electronically.
“People who know the new (government billing) rules and the technology will be very sought after,” McIntyre said.
Along with hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities are also major employers. About 55,000 Iowans work for them, according to the Iowa Health Care Association, which represents for-profit and nonprofit nursing homes.
“We’ve seen small growth in nursing facilities, but larger growth in assisted living and ancillary services,” said Steve Ackerson, executive director of the Iowa Health Care Association.
posted in: Iowa
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Preventing a nurse shortage in Iowa
Friday, January 28, 2011
Over 32 years, Ginny Wangerin has helped patients at the bedside, taught future nurses and advocated for nurses at the state and federal levels.
She’s currently president of the Iowa Nurses Association and a member of Iowa Needs Nurses Now, a coalition aiming to address an impending nursing shortage with a long-term approach.
posted in: Iowa
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AORN Announces Legislative Priorities for 2011
Friday, January 07, 2011
The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses, (AORN), with a membership base of 40,000 RNs and representing the interests of 140,000 perioperative Registered Nurses in the U.S., has announced it will target seven states in 2011 to enact RN as Circulator. The perioperative RN, through professional and patient-centered expertise, is the primary patient advocate in the operating room and is responsible for monitoring all aspects of the patient’s condition. The presence of the RN in the circulating role throughout each surgical procedure is essential for timely delivery of quality surgical care and optimal patient outcomes.
The seven targeted states, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia, were identified following an interview-based survey of hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers by the AORN Advocacy leaders. Many of these states indicated a strong desire to assure patient safety through the use of an RN circulator for each patient during each surgery.
posted in: Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia
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Iowa Nurses Offered Scholarships to Become Nursing Instructors
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Iowa Student Loan, a private company that provides college loans, recently announced that they will be awarding $4,000 per year in grants to nurses who pursue advanced degrees. Nursing leaders around the country are fearful of a nursing shortage in the years to come. “If there are no teachers, there will be no students, which means less nurses to take care of all of us,” said Virginia Wangerin, president of the Iowa Nurses Association. By enticing current nurses to pursue an advanced degree and become an instructor they will be able to educate more nurses in the years to come.
posted in: Education, Scholarships, Iowa
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New Iowa grant program seeks to being in more nursing faculty
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
For those hoping to teach nursing, a new grant program might be able to help you afford your dream.
posted in: Education, Iowa
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Nurses offered incentive to get jobs as instructors
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Iowa nurses are being offered a new incentive to return to school and become nursing instructors.
Iowa Student Loan, a private company that provides college loans, announced Tuesday that it would offer grants of $4,000 per year for nurses who pursue advanced degrees. To qualify, nurses must be teaching nursing courses or planning to do so.
Nursing leaders foresee a nurse shortage, and they say the biggest problem is a lack of college instructors. “If there are no teachers, there will be no students, which means less nurses to take care of all of us,” said Virginia Wangerin, president of the Iowa Nurses Association.
posted in: Education, Iowa
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Scholarships help Genesis build relationships with nurses
Friday, January 29, 2010
DAVENPORT, Iowa – Jan. 25, 2010—The Genesis Health Services Foundation is providing scholarships of $10,000 for students who have been accepted or are already enrolled in an undergraduate baccalaureate nursing program in an Iowa or Illinois college or university.
The scholarships are offered as loans that are forgivable if the recipient works within Genesis Health System for two years on a full-time basis upon completion of their degree. The scholarships are available to students in the 10-county region of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois served by Genesis Health System.
posted in: Iowa, news
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Luther Professor Penny Leake awarded top Iowa nursing honor
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Penny Leake, Luther associate professor of nursing, recently was awarded the Teresa E. Christy Award, one of the top awards given to Iowa nurses, at the 105th annual convention of the Iowa Nurses Association.
The Teresa E. Christy Award, named after the woman considered the foremost nursing historian in the United States, is presented to a registered nurse who has demonstrated professional commitment to the improvement of health care and the inter-relationship of nursing education, nursing practice and nursing research.
posted in: Iowa, news
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Gundersen Lutheran Health System is Hiring: RNs
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Gundersen Lutheran health system is
* A comprehensive healthcare network including one of the nation’s largest multi-specialty group medical practices, regional community clinics, hospitals, nursing homes, home care, behavioral health services, vision centers, pharmacies, and air and ground ambulances
* A physician-led, not-for profit healthcare system
* Located throughout western Wisconsin, northeastern Iowa and southeastern Minnesota caring for patients in 19 counties
* Able to meet patients’ needs for primary and specialized care
* Comprised of more than 500 medical, dental and associate staff
* Supported by a staff of over 5,000
* A tertiary referral center
* A teaching hospital with 325 beds and a Level II Trauma and Emergency Center
* Named among the Top 100 in the nation 10 times in the last 10 years
* The designated Western Clinical Campus for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School and School of Nursing
posted in: Iowa, Wisconsin
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Hospital CEO says merger could help rural areas
Monday, September 14, 2009
FARGO, N.D.—A merger between North Dakota’s largest hospital and a South Dakota-based health system could create the largest rural health network in the country, the hospital’s chief executive said.
The merger of MeritCare of Fargo and Sanford Health of Sioux Falls, S.D., is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The new health system would serve about 2 million people in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska.
posted in: Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, news, North Dakota, South Dakota
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