Quote Originally Posted by dyehard39
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quote="magyart"]There is No Shortage of skilled nurses. However, the education system limits the number of new nurses. Check any school you wish. They typically have twice as many applicants as they will accept. The supply of practically all medical professions is restricted.
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Nursing Facts: Nursing Shortage
1. Nursing Shortage Indicators
The nation is facing an impending shortage of nurses, which is expected to peak by 2020; here are some of the prime indicators:
According to projections released in February 2004 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, RNs top the list of the 10 occupations with the largest projected job growth in the years 2002-2012. Although RNs have listed among the top 10 growth occupations in the past, this is the first time in recent history that RNs have ranked first. These 10-year projections are widely used in career guidance, in planning education and training programs and in studying long-range employment trends. According to the BLS report, more than 2.9 million RNs will be employed in the year 2012, up 623,000 from the nearly 2.3 million RNs employed in 2002. However, the total job openings, which include both job growth and the net replacement of nurses, will be more than 1.1 million. This growth, coupled with current trends of nurses retiring or leaving the profession and fewer new nurses, could lead to a shortage of more than one million nurses by the end of this decade. (For details, see www.bls.gov/emp/#outlook.)

http://www.nursingworld.org/readroom/fsshortage.htm


Study on the nursing shortage by Linda Aiken of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing found that an estimated 20,000 people die each year because they have checked into a hospital with overworked nurses. The study also found that Americans scheduled for routine surgeries run a 31 percent greater risk of dying if they are admitted to a hospital with a severe shortage of nurses. That’s approximately one-fifth of the up to 98,000 deaths that occur each year as a result of medical errors. Nurses in the study cared for an average of four patients at a time, with the risk of death increasing by about 7 percent for each additional patient cared for over that baseline number. This study highlights the fact that people can and do die when nursing care is inadequate. (Source: “Hospital Nurse Staffing and Patient Mortality, Nurse Burnout, and Job Dissatisfaction,” study; see Journal of the American Medical Association, Oct. 23-30, 2002.)

Nursing Shortage Contributing Factors:
1. Nurses increasingly are facing deteriorating working conditions at the facilities in which they work. This problem is reflected in the decline in nurse staffing nationwide. According to a 2001 ANA Staffing Survey, 75 percent of nurses surveyed feel the quality of nursing care at the facility in which they work has declined over the past two years, while 56 percent of nurses surveyed believe the time available for patient care has decreased. In addition, more than 40 percent of nurses surveyed said they would not feel comfortable having a family member cared for in the facility in which they work. And over 54 percent of respondents would not recommend their profession to their children or friends. (Source: ANA Staffing Survey, Feb. 6, 2001. See www.nursingworld.org/staffing/ for details.)
Thanks for posting this. That's what I thought. My daughter is a critical care RN, and she's complained about the shortage where she works. A staff of 12 needed, when there might be only 6 on a shift. There have also been several articles about a nursing shortage in this country and the declining quality of patient care as a result. Some of it has been attributed to a shortage of instructors.