MHA Scholars Program Awards Future Health Care Workers In order to address the nursing and allied health shortage, the Maryland Hospital Association created a scholarship program to attract students to Maryland health care careers. Since receiving a grant from BD Diagnostics in 2002, MHA has awarded at least ten $2,500 scholarships each year—84 scholarships total. (Fall 2007)
	Introducing Students to Perioperative Nursing at Hopkins Bayview Although nursing students typically receive experience in hospitals before graduation, many do not spend clinical time in the operating room. A nursing student’s lack of exposure to the OR can prevent new nurses from selecting the OR as a place to work upon graduation. Mary Anne Greene, Director of Nursing Education and Practice at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, wanted to change that by creating an introductory course in perioperative nursing that would spark an interest in students to enter the field. (Fall 2007)
	Baltimore Alliance for Careers in Healthcare Launches New Program The Baltimore Alliance for Careers in Healthcare (BACH), a nonprofit work force development consortium that includes seven local hospitals, has chosen an institution, the Maryland Center for Arts and Technology, a North Howard Street training center already geared toward serving Baltimore’s unemployed or underemployed, with which to partner in its effort to train unemployed workers for health industry jobs. Through a 12-week bridge program, which began April 10, 2006, BACH intends to enhance the basic skills of workers with low level reading and math abilities, helping them bridge the gap to new careers. In turn, the hospitals hope to get more skilled workers for their hard-to-fill positions. (Spring 2006)
	Resource Nurses: Lending a Hand More than a year ago, executives at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore brainstormed on ways to help with the problem of running overcrowded emergency rooms more smoothly. The result was the creation of a new position at the hospital—a critical care resource nurse. Since then, things have been running with improved efficiency and employees at the hospital have been taking notice. (May 2005)
	Hospital System’s Financial Planning Service Going Strong for Nearly a Decade The Washington County Hospital System (WCHS), which has about 2,100 employees, launched a service in 1996 for employees enrolled in its retirement program to get independent, professional financial advice. Before the program began, employees would sign up for their retirement plans or make changes to their financial portfolios without professional advice. Many blindly made decisions about money they plan to use in their golden years based on a hunch or with limited information. (January 2005)
	GBMC Employs Successful Recruitment and Retention Pilot Program Like most hospital officials responsible for recruiting, Susan Coe, director of human resources at Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC) couldn’t figure out why the hospital was struggling with luring nurses to the Towson-based hospital and keeping them there. With a team of hospital officials, Coe designed “Teamwork is Rewarding,” a program that uses existing nurses to help retain new recruits. The program also provides an intense six-month training academy for new recruits to help get them adjusted and prepared for the job. “Teamwork is Rewarding” is designed to stabilize and reduce turnover through the creation of a more stable work environment. (January 2005)
	Holy Cross Provides Incentives for Employees to Mentor Students On a monthly basis, Carla Halik, RN, who heads the Holy Cross Hospital Explorers Program, invites as many as 42 teenage students to her work place to expose them to various health careers in hopes of recruiting them. “Forty-two teenagers is quite a handful,” she says, “especially when you’re bringing them into a hospital.” When the program started 14 years ago, it was often difficult to get staff to volunteer their time to take students on a tour. Now Holy Cross Hospital has an Exceptional Contributions Pay Program that incentivizes its employees to participate in the program. Halik reports that today she has employees coming to her to find out how they can help. (November 2004)
	Reorganization Lowers Vacancy and Turnover Rates at Washington County In one of the few industries in the nation where positions outnumber applicants, health care managers have to sell their organizations Donald Trump-style. With little of the glitz and glamour of casinos and hotels, hospitals need managers with tremendous creativity to attract and keep a corps of experienced staffers. Enter Mary Towe, RN, MBA, executive for nursing services at Washington County Hospital in Hagerstown. (September 2004)
	Job Shadowing at Shore Health Introduces Students To Health Care Careers Through the Job Shadowing program at hospitals managed by Shore Health System (parent of Memorial Hospital in Easton, Dorchester General Hospital in Cambridge and a host of outpatient facilities on the Eastern Shore), students at participating middle and high schools often get tours of the hospitals’ emergency rooms, various diagnosic departments, as well as one-on-one mentoring from medical professionals. The program is aimed at making a dent in the nationwide shortage of health care workers. (Summer 2004)
	Western Maryland Health System Creates “Weekends Only” Nursing Positions To alleviate the ongoing problem of weekend staffing at its two hospitals in Cumberland, Western Maryland Health System in Cumberland created a new job category—the “Weekends Only” RN position. This allows registered nurses to work two 12-hour shifts on Saturdays and Sundays. ( April 2004)
	The University of Maryland Medical Center Expands Education Benefits to Cover Every Stage of Life One lesson emerging from hospitals’ ongoing recruitment and retention efforts is that unique job benefits can, over time, reduce turnover. . . .( February 2004)
	The New England-Style Town Meetings Help Union Memorial Address Nursing Shortage If you think that town hall meetings with their grassroots approach to problem solving happen only in small-town New England, please think again. . . . ( February 2004) .
	Shore Health System: From High School Counselors to Elementary and Middle School Students — The Patient Approach to Nurse Recruitment “Once is not enough,” says Shore Health System’s Cynthia Watson. In fact, “continual reinforcement” is what it takes to make sure that high school guidance counselors remember the health system as a good source of information on nursing as a career. (May 2003)
	For Returning Radiology Techs, The Grass Turns Out To Be Greener At Anne Arundel Combining relationship-building and a business model is the secret to Priya Jagannathn’s success in attracting more radiologist applicants than needed at Anne Arundel. It all started with calling alumni. (July 2003)
	A Modern-Day Roundtable Deploys Its Forces in Charles County Crafting a single recruitment message through roundtable discussion among a broad spectrum of county providers is already producing results, says Chris Stephanides, Civista CEO. She predicts that identifying a “health care hero” will strengthen the effort. (July 2003)
	Making Strides at Shore Health to Attract Males to Nursing While Maryland’s most severe nursing shortage since the 1980s continues to be a problem, Shore Health System in Easton, is trying to recruit not only more female nurses, but working to add to the male nursing population as well. (September 2003)
	Doctors Community Hospital Solves the Snow Day Dilemma With the beginning of the school year comes a challenge for both hospitals and those employees who have children in elementary school: parents’ difficulty in finding alternative child care when schools unexpectedly close for weather emergencies often translates into difficulty in staffing hospitals. Doctors Community Hospital in Prince George’s County has, however, found the answer — or rather, created an answer. (September 2003)
	With Help from the National Youth Leadership Forum, St. Mary's Helps High School Students Explore Health Care Careers For the past two summers Pat Piepoli, a clinical recruiter for St. Mary's Hospital in rural Leonardtown, has coordinated a day-long visit that covers six hospital departments for a group of high school students from across the country. Why? After all, it takes quite a bit of behind-the-scenes work to make it happen, from getting permission from any patients that students may interact with to lining things up with department leaders. (November 2003)

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