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This article describes how the nursing leadership in Nevada is responding to the nursing shortage crisis. The Nevada Hospital Association and Nevada legislature have supported statewide educational initiatives. Outcomes of a task force include recommendations to improve articulation agreements between schools of nursing and community colleges, external funding for summer salaries for faculty, efforts to recruit and retain minority and other nontraditional students, reallocation of financial resources among all universities and colleges in the state, reexamination of state-mandated faculty-to-student ratios, and changes in the work environment to encourage nurses to remain in the profession. A plan was developed to double enrollments in nursing schools through federal and state funding strategies, creative scheduling, and academic resource support.

Sixty rural elders who had stopped driving as well as their friends and family members participated in a qualitative study to explore (a) the perceptions of older drivers regarding the influence of friends and family on their decision to stop driving, (b) the perceptions of friends and family regarding their influence on that decision, and (c) the impact that no longer driving had on the elder and his or her friends and family. Findings suggest that the support offered by friends and family played a significant role in the decision to stop driving. Increased loneliness and isolation impacted the older driver, although an enhanced sense of responsibility was evident among friends and family.

Fifty rural nurses and 75 rural elders participated in a study to (a) explore the perceptions of nurses regarding their role in assessing the driving abilities of rural elders and (b) to describe the nurse's influence on rural elders' decision to stop driving. Findings suggest that, although driving safety of rural elders is of concern to nurses, they do not discuss these concerns with their clients, and rural elders do not discuss driving with nurses.