Our History

History of the Center

The Nursing Shortage Study Commission was established by the 2001 West Virginia Legislature with HB 2504, and was charged with studying the nursing shortage. It was predicted, at that time, the projected nursing shortage would only intensify over the coming decade. Although there have been shortages in the past, this particular episode is predicted to be more severe and will remain for a longer period of time. The Commission was originally placed under the auspices of the West Virginia Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses and its work funded by the Board as well. The membership was diverse and represented nursing specialty organizations as well as the different geographic regions of the state. Also, the Commission consisted of public as well as health profession members.

The Commission was charged with the task of studying the nursing shortage in West Virginia and offer solutions to alleviate this impending crisis. The following tasks were undertaken:

  1. Evaluating mechanisms currently available to enhance education, recruitment, and retention of nurses in the workforce and to improve quality of care;
  2. Assessing the impact of shortages on access to and the delivery of quality care;
  3. Develop recommendations or strategies to reverse the growing shortage of qualified nursing personnel in the state, including:
    • Determine what changes are needed to existing educational, scholarship programs, and funding mechanisms to better reflect and accomodate the changing healthcare delivery environment and to improve quality of care to meet the needs of our patients;
    • Facilitating career advancement within the profession;
    • Identifying specific shortage areas in a more accurate and timely manner;
    • Attracting middle and high school students into nursing as a career; and
    • Projecting a more positive and professional image of nursing.

The Commission was successful in gathering data and found the following the be true. This public health crisis is a result of many factors:

  • Nursing remains a predominately female profession;
  • The careers for women have changed from the typical choices to more commonly recognized male roles;
  • The profession has not kept up with other professional roles in relation to salary and career opportunities within the field; and
  • Fewer women are entering the field due to complaints of long working hours, inadequate staffing, and little to no sense of decision-making authority in the workplace.

The Commission recommended the following:

  1. Development of the Center for Nursing;
  2. Evaluate the effects of Magnet Hospital status on the work environment and job satisfaction;
  3. Evaluate the current funding for nursing education and students;
  4. Evaluate nursing education articulation; and
  5. Form alliances with other initiatives to leverage support and funding.

In 2002, the Study Commission continued its work and offered a report in January 2003, in which more specific data was presented concerning statistics, and recruitment and retention strategies gathered from across the state. In January 2004, the Commission again presented documentation to the Legislature concerning the current and future predictions for the nursing shortage. Finally, in March 2004, the WV Legislature created the WV Center for Nursing with the passage of HB 4143.

In May 2005, the first meeting of the WV Center for Nursing Board of Directors convened and began the task of addressing the shortage as recommended in the Study Commission reports.

Please visit the WV Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses, WVRNBoard.com for more information on the Study Commission reports.