With more than 30 years of medical knowledge in the American health-care industry as a registered nurse, Paula Packwood is no stranger to the recent shortage of nurses adversely affecting hospitals around the world.

Packwood interviewed and filmed numerous professionals related to the medical field for the documentary, “The Nursing Shortage: A Crisis in American Healthcare” now airing on Adelphia Cable.

The informative film delves into the issue of nursing shortages through the eyes of nurses along with in-depth interviews from those obliquely involved in the field such as nursing school professors, college deans and researchers, union representatives, hospital administrators and officials, nursing students and the public.

“This shortage is bad and it’s only getting worse. It’s not one that will come and go,” said Packwood. “We can fix it if we can come together and I know the nurses want to take a leadership role in this. As a nurse, I didn’t want to skew this in any way. I just wanted people to see what it felt like to be a nurse these days.”

The documentary recently premiered at the Hermosa Playhouse thanks to the Hermosa Arts Foundation. It will now air on Adelphia’s public access Channel 10 in February and March all throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties. Nationally syndicated networks have also expressed an interest in airing it.

By Packwood’s analysis, those entrenched in the field feel some relief in the current crisis could come from solutions such as funding to public universities, and a cultural and social shift in negative perceptions of the profession often portrayed in today’s media.

With the help of Greg Wyatt, Adelphia communications supervisor, Packwood condensed 13 hours of footage into 55 minutes. Wyatt provided Packwood with a film crew and she later selected the film’s content while he directed it and later edited it. The entire project from beginning to end took nearly a year. Packwood and Wyatt got together last February, and she began her research and booking interviews in the spring of 2002. She then began filming in August.

“I wanted to give nurses a chance to tell their story about their profession,” explained Packwood. “I think because I’ve worked in the field for the past 30 years, we were allowed to follow a nurse around during her 12-hour shift, and to gain access to people and places you would not normally have access to.”

In the film, Packwood spent time talking to nurses who speak frankly about the matter; and highlighted shortage causes and solutions through interviews with various researchers, medical organizations and hospital administrators.

She interviewed deans of nursing schools, and representatives from the Los Angeles County Medical and Hospital associations along with college professors involved in both research and published studies.

“We talked to the stakeholders and asked them how big is this bread box, so to speak,” she said. “It’s a pandemic problem and it’s a silent epidemic because people who aren’t in the health-care industry don’t really know about it.”

The problem is particularly bad in the state of California which is ranked 49th in its shortage. Only 50 percent of California’s nurses are educated in the state while the other half come from other states and countries.

Within the U.S., approximately 100,000 nursing posts are currently vacant and it could reach 500,000 in the next 15 years if nothing is done.

According to Packwood, one hospital CEO needed to fill numerous vacant nursing slots at her hospital and so she used the services of a nursing registry which is like a temp agency for registered nurses.

She needed to pay both a salary and a premium, and in one year she spent $4.5 million which wiped out her bottom line.

A part of the documentary’s segment was dedicated to interviewing people on the street in the cities of Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Gardena and Culver City.

“These people were very forthcoming,” Packwood said. “Some didn’t even know about the shortage and some did because they knew of people in the hospital.”

In the film Packwood concluded the shortage evolved by way of four key scenarios. The first is education in public institutions.

“Individuals who wish to earn a nursing degree following their high school graduation are not able to at UC schools,” she said. “School officials have cut school nursing programs due to a lack of funds. Most basic nursing programs closed in the 1990s and UCLA’s closed in 1995. If you’re already an RN, you’re able to earn a master’s or a doctorate at these schools.”

Approximately 1,000 freshman at California State University at Long Beach applied to its nursing program, However, the school only has room for 36 people because of a lack of funding.

With 95 percent of all nurses being women, another reason for the shortage is because women these days may choose from a buffet of professional careers unlike in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

“We must do a better job at keeping the nurses we have,” said Packwood. “There is a lot of paperwork in the profession and nurses need a staffing level that is appropriate so they can spend more time with their patients. That’s why we got into the job in the first place.”

Another reason for the shortage is based on stereotypical images of nurses portrayed in the media.

“It needs to be one of respect, and made attractive to younger people and men,” said Packwood. “The business community can help by telling legislators to be aware of what nurses need.”

Both state and federal governments passed the Nursery Investment Act legislation providing help to nurses through resources such as education.

“Nurses who have worked in the field for more than 40 years tell it like it is,” said Packwood. “Now with scientific studies from Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania, we know the decline in registered nurses does impact the quality of care and they predict it will only get worse if we don’t do something about it now.”

“The Nursing Shortage” will air the weekends of Feb. 21 and 28 along with March 7. Show times are as follows: Fridays, 5 and 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 5, 8 and 10 p.m.; and Sundays, 2, 6, 8 and 10 p.m. The film will air throughout the South Bay along with Orange County, the San Fernando Valley, Santa Monica and various other cities in Los Angeles County.