SMITHFIELD, N.C. -- U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-Lillington) hosted "Code Blue: North Carolina's Nursing Shortage," a roundtable discussion on the state's nursing shortage with area nurses, nursing educators, hospital administrators and nursing students Tuesday. Long-range forecasts of supply and demand for registered nurses in North Carolina predict a shortage of anywhere from 9,000 in 2015 to 18,000 by 2020. At the same time, North Carolina's population is expected to reach almost 11 million people by 2020, with an increasing proportion of people age 65 and older.

"Nurses are a critical piece of our health care system," Etheridge said. "To keep our families healthy and our workforce strong, we must address the critical shortage of nurses immediately. I will keep working in Congress to help support our nurses and encourage students to pursue this rewarding line of work."

The roundtable focused on potential Congressional and federal solutions to address the massive shortage of nursing professionals in North Carolina and throughout the nation. Speakers Brenda Cleary, executive director of the North Carolina Center for Nursing; Sindy Barker, executive director of the North Carolina Nurses Association; Linda Smith, director of nursing education at Johnston County Community College; Connie Grady of Johnston Memorial Hospital and Linda Cronenwett, dean of the University of North Carolina School of Nursing, provided information on the nursing shortage from the perspectives of the nurse, the nursing educator, and the hospital administrator. Students from area nursing programs provided the perspective of the nursing student.

Participants broke into small groups to brainstorm about potential federal solutions to North Carolina's nursing shortage and presented their ideas to Etheridge. The discussion provided a number of potential solutions including:

Congress recently passed and the President signed into law the Nurse Reinvestment Act. This critical legislation authorizes federal funding for scholarships and loan repayments for nursing students who agree to work in shortage areas after they graduate. Further, the bill includes funding to develop and issue public service announcements to promote the nursing profession. Etheridge, who co-sponsored the legislation, is working in Congress to ensure that the resources are available to make these initiatives successful.