Kansas City program announced to improve nurses' work environments

A new Bi-State Nursing Workforce Innovation Center, designed to help improve nursing environments in the Kansas City area, has been announced by a group of partners and donors. The center will be at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Nursing, and is designed to retain good nurses frustrated by low staffing numbers, high patient loads, and heavy paperwork burdens. In 2007, Kansas City area hospitals reported a 9.4% vacancy rate in their registered nursing positions and a 13% annual turnover rate.