“Our nursing staff consists of 7 percent males and about 10 percent from ethnic minority groups,” said Catherine S. Koppelman, Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer at UH and UH Case Medical Center.
“Over the next three years, we hope to increase those numbers by 1 percent each year.”
The push at UH is to attract more people in general to the nursing field. A wave of retirements, coupled with fewer people choosing clinical nursing as a career, is creating a shortage across the country.
Medical advances also play a role in the shortfall. Our aging population is living longer, often with chronic disease and using more health care resources.
Before joining UH in early 2007, Koppelman was Vice President of Patient Care Services for the Summa Health System in Akron. Earlier work experiences at Cleveland hospitals include leadership roles at MetroHealth Medical Center and the former Mt. Sinai Health Care System.