Nurse Shortage Cuts Beds at Federal Clinic

The National Institutes of Health, unable to recruit enough nurses with a government pay scale that is $5,000 below Washington-area standards, said Friday that it has been forced to take out of service 5% of the beds in its world-renowned clinical research center.

Colleen Henrichsen, a spokeswoman for the Warren G. Magnuson Clinical Center, said the number of hospital beds for cancer patients has been reduced by 19, which is more than 15% of the beds reserved for patients undergoing cancer therapy as part of research projects.

The clinical center has also taken six beds in its intensive-care units out of service because of nurse shortages, Henrichsen said. The clinical center has about 500 beds in all.