Board of Health asked to check the supply of nurses in Iowa

The State Board of Health will be asked to study the nursing shortage in Iowa.Jane Hasek is a registered nurse and Chancellor at Allen College in Waterloo. Hasek says in the next eight years, over 60-percent of the current nurses in Iowa will turn 50, while the number of new nurses entering the profession is dropping. She says admissions to registered nurse programs have dropped 40 percent while graduations have dropped 27 percent.Hasek says, at the same time, more Iowans are getting older and requiring more care.Hasek is also a member of the Iowa Board of Health and will ask her colleagues today to study the problem to get it into the spotlight.The Board of Health meets this morning in Des Moines.