Prince George's County Schools Deal With Nursing Shortage

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (AP) -- Prince George's County school officials are grappling with a shortage of nurses.

The Washington Post reports that there's no permanent, full-time nurse assigned to about 10 percent of the county's schools. The shortage has existed since last year.

Karen Bates, supervisor of the health-services office, says the school system has lost nurses to retirement, attrition and higher-paying jobs. But it's hired about 20 school nurses in the past three months.

The district is considering whether nurse's aides could be hired to staff schools in place of registered nurses and licensed practical nurses. Those aides would be supervised by a registered nurse assigned to a region including several schools. As a temporary fix, the school system might ask nurses at one school to treat a student at another school.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)