Kaiser Family Foundation Nursing Deficiency

The Bureau of Labor stated that the growth in the field of nursing will increase by 23% from 2006 and 2016. This is much faster than the average of all occupations. Nurses’ average income is about $57,000. The Health and Human Services Administration (HHSA) reported that there will be a deficit of more than 400,000 nurses in 2010 and about 1 million in 2020. Based from the studies conducted in early 2000, the deficiency in nursing profession became imminent.

The Kaiser Family Foundation states the following reasons of nursing deficiency:

• Sudden population growth in some areas of the country
• Wide-ranging aging of the American population
• Less number of people entering nursing job
• Turn down of RN earnings relative to other careers
• Low job contentment and poor working setting
• Retirement of the current nursing workforce
• Lacking faculty in nursing education programs.

Chris Urbano, Director of Nursing Services at Seton Health/Schuyler Ridge in Clifton Park, NY., said "The nursing shortage at our long-term care facility is difficult and getting worse. We can't get enough RNs for geriatric care. The focus of nursing education programs today is on acute care, which is more glitzy and pays more."

The scarcity in nursing pool is the need of faculty to coach new and existing nurses. According to the National League for Nursing, 99,000 experienced applicants were turned away from nursing programs in 2008 due to the scarcity of faculty and other resource limit. American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) study said that a faculty shortage was 71.4 % of the nursing colleges surveyed. The Boston Herald reports that the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Tufts Help Plan Foundation, and other org. have granted a $250,000 to the states of Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire to be able to boost the number of nursing teachers, to add training break, and to provide incentives for nurses. Health Resources and Services Administration of HHS gave their support to the nurse education, practice and preservation by offering scholarships, loans and loan repayments, and grants to registered nurses to enlarge their skills in the field. The nursing shortage is still very real, especially in rural areas.

"My major fear is that people will feel that the nursing shortage is ending," said Lynn Whisman, chief nursing officer at Erlanger hospital in Chattanooga. According to Deborah Deal, a colleague at a nearby hospital, Parkridge Medical Center, nursing is a cycle. [via citytowninfo.com]