The California Institute for Nursing & Health Care conducted a survey of employers of nurses from March to May of 2009. The results: 40% of new nursing graduates may not find employment in California hospitals, as only 65% of hospitals indicated they were hiring new graduates, and many said they were decreasing the amount of new hires.

In June, a series of meetings were held to discuss these finding and find possible solutions. The survey presentation is available at http://cinhc.org/programs/documents/NewRNGraduateWorkforce2009.pdf.

So what do they recommend? Create transition programs, such as residencies or internships based through continuing education divisions of colleges, under the sponsorship or regional collaboratives. The programs would extend learning and might be specific to certain areas of acute care, such as labor and delivery.

To read more about solutions to the nursing job shortage in California, click here.

What do you think? Would you be interested in these kind of programs?