Deal targets nurse shortage
Medical school, health system look to grow, diversify workforce
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, one of the nation's four historically Black medical schools, and CommonSpirit Health are addressing America's nursing shortage through a partnership aimed at growing and diversifying the nursing workforce.
“Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, we predicted a nursing shortage due to the retiring nursing workforce and the care needs of our aging population,” said Kathy Sanford, chief nursing officer at CommonSpirit, parent company of Dignity Health. “Nursing schools simply don't have the capacity to train nurses fast enough to replace those leaving the profession.”
The partnership between Los Angeles-based CDU and CommonSpirit Health, headquartered in Chicago, will add faculty and resources to help the school grow its enrollment. The school has about 500 students moving through its undergraduate and graduate nursing programs at any given time, school officials said.
CommonSpirit operates 140 hospitals and more than 1,500 care sites across 21 states, while Dignity Health has 18 Southern California hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers and advanced imaging centers throughout the Southland, Central California and the Central Coast.
The need for more nurses is very real.
A 2021 American Association of Colleges of Nursing study found that, although interest in nursing programs is strong, 80,521 qualified applications were not accepted at schools of nursing due primarily to a shortage of faculty, clinical sites and resources.
Charity M'samalia ChimwalaSelico, a professor who also takes classes at CDU, says it's easier for patients to trust a provider that “shares a cultural understanding.”
“Professors who look like us and have experienced a similar background in nursing and bringing us into these spaces is important because it creates community,” she said.
School President and CEO David M. Carlisle said CDU is focused on clinical excellence but is also looking to promote social justice and health equity for underserved populations, both here in Southern California and worldwide.
“Expanding our program helps increase their impact and the likelihood that diverse patients have access to a provider who looks like them,” Carlisle said in a statement.
Studies show that having access to a medical provider with shared life experiences helps improve trust and health outcomes. The Urban Institute, which looked at results from an April 2021 survey of more than 9,000 adults, found that only 22.2% of Black adults had a regular provider of the same race, compared with 73.8% of White adults.
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science offers nearly 20 graduate, undergraduate and certificate programs in medicine and health care and is ranked as the No. 2 school in the nation for student and faculty diversity.
“In our Southern California division alone, we employ 10,000 nurses that care for over a million people every year,” said Julie J. Sprengel, president and CEO of CommonSpirit's Southern California division. “Together with Charles R. Drew, we're helping to remove systemic barriers and create a more diverse and dynamic workforce that reflects the communities we serve.”
Understaffing has become a key concern among Southern California nurses as they bargain for new labor contracts.
Nurses at Centinela Hospital Medical Center held an informational picket at the Inglewood hospital last month, claiming they are understaffed, overworked and struggling to provide adequate patient care. City of Hope nurses also voiced staffing concerns when they staged a silent protest at the Duarte facility in March.