America's Nursing Shortage and Job Demands
Retiring Registered Nurses and a Growing Elderly Population
In their June 2009 Fact Sheet, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing reported that by 2025, the shortage for registered nurses (RNs) was expected to grow to 260,000. The shortage is anticipated to continue despite the fact that the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the healthcare sector had added 27,000 new jobs in February 2009, at the same time that many other industries cut over 680,000 jobs.
Standard Nurse Shortage Causes
USA Today noted in their February 15, 2009 “Nursing Shortage” article written by Rasha Madkour that one in five nurses resign from their job within one year of employment. Work place demands, a growing elderly population and complex patient healthcare needs create job fit and nurse retention challenges.
Complex care needs of patients at medical centers, hospitals and nursing homes demand that nurses provide services that might be beyond what they were trained to offer. Home health care services also offer attractive alternatives to nurses and take them away from standard medical care organizations.
Many experienced registered nurses are aging along with the patient population that they care for. To reduce nursing shortages at hospitals, clinics and other healthcare facilities, the country must recruit high school and college students to enter and receive adequate training in the profession.
The numbers of new registered nurses must be large enough to offset the thousands of nurses who are expected to retire over the next 10 to 20 years. The number must also be large enough to provide decent nurse to patient ratios as the aging population expands.
Nurses and Job Satisfaction
Recent Price and Mueller instrument studies reported on by George Zangaro in the January 2009 “Registered Nurses' Job Satisfaction in Navy Hospitals” Nursing News piece reveals that promotional opportunities, professional development and having adequate resources to effectively and efficiently perform their job were key reasons nurses in the military reported job dissatisfaction.
Nurses are decreasingly satisfied with their jobs due, in large part, to internal pressures from heath care facility administrators, stress and long hours. In fact, a 2001 Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals survey found that half of the responding nurses thought about leaving the patient-care field during the previous two years with 56% of the nurses desiring a less stressful job.
The Need for Support from Leadership
Ongoing support and viable resources from leadership teams at hospitals, clinics and other healthcare facilities help to increase nurse job satisfaction and retention. When hospital presidents and chief nursing officers get to know the nurses at their facilities and make a point of keeping in regular communication with the nurses to assess their needs, define gaps in training and job experience, satisfaction and retention levels rise.
Leadership teams can improve communication gaps by setting recurring meetings with senior and more junior level nurses. During these meetings and other communication vehicles like job performance and training needs discussions, leaders can provide nurses autonomy to make professional decisions regarding their job functions.
Nurses who are allowed to exercise decision making authority around their work hours are generally more satisfied than nurses who are more often given orders and told what to do. Allowing nurses to have input in their work schedule can improve work life balance for the healthcare professionals, changes that keep the career field appealing for newer and more experienced nurses.
Job Fit and Proper Training for Nurses
Proper training that fits today’s demanding patient care needs can help to decrease the numbers of nurses exiting the field. For example, older nurses may need training to better operate multifaceted technology systems like computer based patient record (CPR) and electronic medical record (EMR) software applications that did not exist when the nurses were licensed.
Additionally, assigning senior nurses and healthcare workers to mentor newer nurses provides the employees with added support. The California Nurses Association (CAN) has been operating a mentor/mentee program in effort to improve job satisfaction levels of nurses working in the state. Preliminary findings on the program have revealed that mentored nurses were less likely to leave the patient care field than nurses who were not mentored.
To counter the numbers of registered nurses who are expected to retire over the next 20 years and the current nursing shortage, healthcare facility leaders can engage in regular and effective communication with nursing teams. Training and mentoring programs can also be established to offset growing educational needs across the profession, particularly as the technological systems that nurses operate advance. Work life balance can be achieved through joint scheduling practices established between nurses and their supervisors.
Nursing Shortage in America
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