What Nurses Are Doing About the Nursing Shortage

Nurses and hospitals are responding in positive ways to decrease the impact of the nursing shortage on patient care.

(PRWEB) January 9, 2004 --By the year 2020, there will be a shortage of 800,000 nurses according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Nurses are already feeling the pinch. Nurses are being asked to take larger patient assignments with fewer resources. The most popular ways nurses are responding to the current shortage are by direct or indirect action.

   Indirect action on the nurses part involves exploring new career options, job hopping, or just outright quitting their positions. However, many nurses are taking direct action by becoming involved in promoting legislation to regulate staffing ratios, or through career development. Nurses have found that by developing their careers, they have many options outside the traditional hospital setting.

   Some hospitals are being proactive in the struggle to retain nurses by increasing educational offerings and developing in-house temporary staffing pools. A strong continuing education program has been linked with increased nurse satisfaction, and nurse satisfaction is linked to patient satisfaction (Institute of Medicine).

   Nurses who continue to pursue career development will have more options during the nursing shortage, and hospitals who deliver solid professional development programs will retain more of their nurses. The real losers will be those who sit back and wait for someone to fix the shortage.

About Ed4Nurses, Inc: Ed4Nurses provides nursing continuing education that is designed to inspire nurses to greatness, motivate them to achieve, and help them along the way.

David W. Woodruff, MSN, RN, CNS, CCRN
Clinical Nurse Expert
President, Ed4Nurses, Inc.
(330) 467-2629
www.ed4nurses.com
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