A physician prescription for the nursing shortage

In 2003, the Colorado Permanente Medical Group (CPMG), a 780-member, multispecialty physician group that provides ambulatory and hospital care principally in metropolitan Denver and Boulder, embarked upon a multifaceted program to leverage physician leadership to address the nursing shortage. Designated as the "Preferred Clinical Partner Program" (the PCP Program), CPMG sought to participate in solving the nursing shortage by engaging in a number of initiatives. Through an initial fund of $1 million, over $350,000 was used to fund nursing scholarships, over $150,000 was used to provide advanced training to a select group of health care professionals in a program that may be the first physician-partnered MA-to-LPN and RN-to-BSN initiative, and over $500,000 was devoted to building and expanding nursing simulation laboratories. Currently, the accelerated nursing program graduates approximately 32-35 nurses each year and has admitted its seventh cohort of students. Student retention has been excellent.