WASHINGTON -- A 60-second public service announcement on television is reminding viewers that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is an employer of choice for health care workers. The TV ad is one of VA's initiatives to address the shortage of nurses and ensure continued quality care for veterans.
"VA nurses are essential to maintaining the high quality of care veterans receive from VA," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi. "Through a systemwide, multidisciplinary approach to health care, we are addressing the need to keep valued nurses and add new ones to our clinics, hospitals and medical centers."
Thirty-five percent of VA nurses are eligible for retirement by 2005. As the national pool of qualified and available nurses continues to diminish, VA has initiatives underway to recruit and retain nurses, including payments for education, flexible work hours, improved pay and attention to work place issues.
VA's Employee Incentive Scholarship Program (EISP) and National Nursing Education Initiative (NNEI) have already helped more than 1,800 nurses study for college degrees. Through the incentive scholarship program, VA provides its health care employees substantial scholarships to pursue education in selected health care disciplines. In return, they have a period of obligated service.
The NNEI helps VA registered nurses expand their formal education. The program prepares nurses for new and evolving roles as VA continues to transform from a hospital-based system to one that focuses on primary care and care management in outpatient, home and community settings.
VA's Education Debt Reduction Program is a tuition-reimbursement program in which VA will help pay for nurse schooling, up to a total of $44,000. Secretary Principi can adjust that amount if needed whenever there's a pay increase for federal workers.
Through its locality pay system, VA maintains competitive salary rates across the country. VA also now provides Saturday premium pay to licensed practical nurses, who were previously not eligible for it.
VA nurses enrolled in the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) can now apply unused sick leave to their retirement calculations just as nurses enrolled in the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) now do. In addition, registered nurses are now exempt from a requirement that part-time government service performed before April 7, 1986, be prorated in calculating their retirement, just as it is for other federal employees hired before April 7, 1986.
VA also supports outreach efforts to elementary and high school students, such as the Cadet program in Salem, Va., and the Partners program in Seattle. These programs have been successful in presenting VA as a viable career option for youth.
With about 55,000 nursing employees nationwide, VA has the largest nursing staff of any health care system in the world. VA supports the clinical training of a significant percentage of all nurses in the United States. Composed of registered, licensed practical and vocational nurses, plus nursing assistants, the VA nursing team provides health care to veterans in hundreds of facilities across the nation. VA nurses function as clinicians, administrators, researchers and educators, with many holding faculty appointments at affiliated schools of nursing.
