America's health care system is in trouble –
and it's not just the HMOs that are the problem. America – and
the rest of the world – faces a nursing shortage that more severe
than ever and could significantly worsen in the future. The
current situation is a product of decreasing supply and
increasing demand, and not even the nurses are benefiting from
the situation.
Did you
know?
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Of 168,000 unfilled hospital positions nationwide,
126,000 or 75% of those positions are for nurses. |
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A recent American Nursing Association survey showed that
75% of nurses felt the quality of care where they worked had
declined over the past two years. |
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40% of nurses said they would worry about sending a
family member or loved one to be cared for at their own
facility. |
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The number of nursing candidates taking the NCLEX®*
decreased 31.3% from 1995 to 2002. |
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Currently, the shortage is more apparent in rural areas, but
in the future even urban centers will be affected. Nursing
shortages have occurred in the past, but with the baby boom
generation getting older and new nurses getting harder to find,
demand for health care will increase while the ability to meet it
declines.
Moreover, while fewer young nurses are entering the
profession, those that do find a world of opportunity before
them, leading to high turnover rates. The average nurse vacancy
rate overall is 10.2%; this means that on average nine nurses are
doing the work of ten, and in rural areas often much more.
Despite the availability of employment, however, in a recent ANA
survey, 54% of nurses said they would not recommend their
profession to their children or their friends. Given that many
hospitals have to offer lucrative signing bonuses to attract
nurses in the first place, the combination of general
dissatisfaction and ever-present opportunity has led to an
average RN turnover rate in acute care hospitals of 21.3%,
according to the report Acute Care Hospital Survey of RN
Vacancies and Turnover Rates in 2000 by the American
Organization of Nurse Executives.
Continued
