Patti Smoake Quotations

It's ironic that we're such a high-tech industry, but we haven't been able to move as fast as other industries. It's just slow going trying to move everyone in the same direction.

We need nurses in all places -- in universities and in hospitals -- and the only way to solve this problem is to train more.

We need to be able to train more nurses in our state starting now. The problem is only going to get worse as baby boomers head into retirement; the demand for qualified nurses is only going to go up.

And it's getting more difficult and more expensive to recruit nurses from out of state because there is a significant shortage everywhere. Why not educate our own people for these jobs instead of trying to find them out of state? It would be mutually beneficial for hospitals and students.

Cost is a big challenge. It's not like hospitals aren't used to paying a lot of money for important things like medical equipment, but it's a little more difficult to convince them that money is better spent on information technology rather than new medical technology.