Decline in RNs may impact baby boomers

There is a decrease in younger nursing students.
 

According to a study by the Journal of the American Medical Association, the United States will experience a 20 percent shortage of nurses in its health care system by the year 2020. Entitled "Implications of an Aging Registered Nurse Workforce," the study provides statistics that translate into a shortage of more than 400,000 registered nurses. Nursing school enrollment is down and schools themselves have a faculty shortage.

The impending decline in the supply of RNs will come at a time when the first of 78 million baby boomers begin to retire and enroll in the Medicare program in 2010. Because RNs are vital in ensuring access to and quality of health care, it is critical that policymakers understand, and develop appropriate responses to, the implications of a rapidly aging RN workforce.

Among health care professionals, nurses are the least satisfied with their jobs according to a report prepared by Press Ganey Associates, Inc., which examined the perspectives of more than 200,000 employees and 45,000 nurses nationwide. The 2008 Employee and Nurse Check-Up Report: Employee and Nurse Perspectives on American Health Care Organizations cite the actions of senior leadership as a major influence of nurse loyalty and retention.

Nurses’ being the least satisfied employees is troubling for an American health care system struggling with a nursing shortage crisis. The Press Ganey report presents employees’ and nurses’ greatest concerns with their organizations and identifies improvement opportunities. The report finds that employees convey the lowest overall satisfaction with:

• Compensation -- Salaries should match inflation
• Participation -- Limited encouragement to share new thoughts or ideas
• Recognition -- Hard work should be better rewarded

The RN shortage is driven by permanent shifts in the labor market that are unlikely to reverse in the next few years. As shortages develop during the next 20 years, it can be expected that RN wages will rise, and employers will have little choice but to substitute other personnel for RNs. In anticipation of these developments, employers and nursing leaders should begin working together now to plan how best to use increasingly scarce RNs to deliver patient care in the future.

Organizations that take steps to partner with their employees can see not only increased employee retention, but also increased patient volumes and satisfaction, and healthier bottom lines. The health care industry is constantly changing, and greater changes are on the horizon, but there is incredible potential for organizations that partner with their employees.