Edwards proposes $3 billion program to address nursing shortage

July 25, 2003 -- The Baltimore Sun ran a story today by AP writer Mike Glover about Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards' proposed $3 billion, five-year program to add 100,000 nurses through tuition assistance, grants to lure back nurses who have left the profession, the elimination of mandatory overtime, and programs to promote nursing in high schools.

The North Carolina senator's plan, made public in connection with remarks to be delivered in the key Presidential campaign state of Iowa, includes grants for hospitals that take steps to improve staffing ratios or give nurses a greater voice in administration. The piece noted that Edwards did not say how he would fund the program. In his prepared remarks, Edwards stressed that "crushing workloads" were driving nurses from the field, and noted that the federal government spends $500 training physicians for every $1 it spends training nurses.

See the Baltimore Sun's Edwards to Propose $3B for More Nurses, or the Charlotte Observer's article by Tim Funk: Edwards Targets Nursing Shortage.

See John Edwards' full plan for solving the nursing shortage

Also see John Kerry's plan for nursing.

Howard Dean also had a fairly comprehensive plan to tackle the nursing shortage.

If you have information on plans to solve the nursing shortage by other presidential hopefuls, please let us know at media-alert@nursingadvocacy.org