Rock Hill Prepares For Nurse Shortage To Spike

Rock Hill, SC — The need for nurses is growing twice as fast as other jobs, a new study shows.

The shortage is on track to hit South Carolina harder than most states.

Piedmont Medical Center in Rock Hill is trying to get ahead of the problem.

“You are really having to step out of your comfort zone and not give everything you want to every patient,” said Missy Breeden, RN.
Nurse Breeden says the shortage is not new.

What is new is RegisteredNursing.Org’s study showing South Carolina will have the fourth worst shortage in the U.S. by 2030. It will lack 15 percent.

“It’s like we can’t even keep up with where we’re at in Rock Hill, Fort Mill, Chester. I mean, everybody wants to come here,” said Nurse Breeden. “This is my third ER in this particular facility. We’ve already outgrown this one.”

That growth comes at a time when the study says nurses are retiring, baby boomers are aging and rates of chronic health problems like diabetes are growing.

The study also says college enrollment is not keeping up and pay is not a problem.

The average salary in South Carolina is $63,630. The national average is $70,000 a year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Piedmont’s plan of attack is to dominate competition. Senior Recruiter Brooke Totherow says the hospital posts openings online, messages nurses offering better jobs.

They have job fairs, open houses.

“The emergency department had a blitz day where we brought a bunch of people in and tried to hire them very quickly,” said Totherow.

They pull from schools in Charlotte, Spartanburg, Columbia, and across the country, but experience is needed.

“We try to attract experienced nurses by competitive pay, sometimes sign on bonuses. We offer educational opportunities, student loan repayment, tuition assistance,” said Totherow.

Nurses certainly have job security, but they want your help.

“The road is Endless,” said Nurse Breeden. “You can go you can go from emergency medicine to medicine to delivering babies. You can work on an orthopedic unit. You can work three days a week and work 12 hour shifts, or you can go to a family practice office work Monday through Friday business hours.”

South Carolina is slated to be short more than 10,000 nurses by 2030.

North Carolina is on the list of states that should have more than enough nurses with a surplus of more than 16,000.