PANEL ON RIGHT TRACK FOR IMPROVING HEALTH CARE

A panel of nursing professionals and others are looking at ways to improve the profession in Missouri, and that's good medicine for us all.

Called Missouri Nursing 2000, the study is a collaborative project of a number of nursing groups, headed up by the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Nursing.

The University of Missouri and a number of nursing organizations and hospitals, including Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau, are funding the worthwhile study.

Several area nurses are assisting with the study, which began last June and will end next spring. It only makes sense for health care professionals from Cape Girardeau, a regional medical center, to be involved in such a study.

The study comes at a time when Missourians are demanding better health care for themselves and their families.

And health care is particularly important to an ever-aging population. Missouri ranks sixth among all states in the number of citizens aged 65 and older. By 2010, half of the state's citizens will be 45 or older.

Missourians are faced with a number of grim statistics when it comes to health care.

More than 1 million people in Missouri lack adequate health insurance coverage, and 20 percent of those have no health insurance.

Missouri ranks 47th among all states in medical coverage.

There are 38 Missouri counties that have no hospitals. Many rural hospitals are in danger of closing.

Only one in four Missouri counties has an adequate number of doctors.

Missouri's infant mortality rate ranks 31st in the U.S.

At least 18 percent of Missouri women receive no prenatal care. Since 1986, 10 of the 65 hospitals in rural Missouri that provided obstetric care have closed their obstetric units.

Scarce educational resources, a general shortage of nurses, and a need for more nurse practitioners adds to the problem.

Those in the nursing profession also face state restrictions, such as one prohibiting nurse practitioners from writing prescriptions. Nurse practitioners have authority to write prescriptions in 37 states, but not in Missouri and a minority of other states.

It's estimated that by the year 2000, this nation may be 500,000 short of the number of registered nurses needed.

To their credit, local institutions are trying to do something about that.

Southeast Missouri State University, through its nursing school, is turning out qualified professionals in the health care field. The university currently is seeking state approval to offer a master's of nursing program.

In August, Southeast Missouri Hospital started a school of nursing that offers a one-year program for licensed practical nurses who want to become registered nurses. The Cape Vocational-Technical School also offers training in several medical professions, including year-long Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) training.

All of us have a stake in health care. Missouri Nursing 2000 and other innovative efforts could ultimately lead to health care improvements a prescription to which we all look forward.