Michigan hospitals and universities are using layoffs in the depressed auto industry to their advantage by enticing unemployed workers to consider accelerated nursing programs, reports The Detroit News. Oakland University, for example, has teamed with the Henry Ford Health System to create a fast-track nursing program specifically for unemployed Ford Motor Company workers. For those without a college degree, the program is three years, and those who already have a degree can earn a nursing degree in a year. The hospitals are hoping not only to help solve their nursing shortage but also to train new healthcare employees in the culture and practices of their institutions right from the start. “We are trying in every way that we can to create this pipeline for nurses at Henry Ford Health System,” Jeri Jackson, administrator for nursing development and research at Henry Ford, told the News. Since 2001, Michigan has lost 92,200 auto jobs, and it is expected to lose another 44,900 by 2008. A shortage of 7,000 nurses is expected in the state by 2010.
