Filipino nurses at Baylor University Medical Center: personal recollections

Jocelyn Alvarez Allgood, RN

From the Department of Nursing, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.

Historical articles published in Proceedings will be reprinted in the centennial history of Baylor University Medical Center, edited by H. Lawrence Wilsey and scheduled for publication in 2003. Readers who have any additional information, artifacts, photographs, or documents related to the historical articles are asked to forward such information to the Proceedings' editorial office for possible inclusion in the book version.

Corresponding author: Jocelyn Alvarez Allgood, RN, 206 Southside Drive, Sanger, Texas 76266 (e-mail: jojeea@msn.com).

A nationwide shortage of nurses in the early 1970s led Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC) to seek innovative ways to recruit and retain the numbers of qualified and committed nurses required. Baylor was a leader in developing and implementing the two-days alternative, or Baylor plan. Preceptorships and externships were developed. A day care center was established to make it easier for nurses and other employees to work full time. The continuing shortage of nurses also induced Baylor to recruit nurses from abroad. (BUMC Proceedings 2001;14:406-409)