Wikipedia Entry For The "Nursing Shortage"

2 Who knew?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nursing_shortage
I'm glad the article talks about how a nursing shortage is defined (perceived inadequate ratio of nurses per capita). It is important to note that the presence of a "nursing shortage" does not mean that healthcare agencies desire to hire enough nurses to correct that shortage (ie, enough nurses to provide for safe nurse-patient ratios). Maybe a little more of our fix-the-nursing-shortage effort should be directed toward generating the political, legislative, and regulatory will to mandate adequate staffing.

Thanks.

also does not mean there is a nursing shortage in your home town. Lots of rural areas have shortages in the US

It's so true! They nailed it! Nursing shortage will continue if the powers that be can get away with under staffing to save money!

"While the number of U.S. trained licensed nurses has increased each year, the projected nursing demand growth rate from 2008–2018, as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics[16] is anticipated to be a 22%, or 2.12% annually. Therefore, the 9.8% annual growth of new R.N.'s exceeds the current new position growth rate by a net of 7.7% per year with the assumption of consistent growth figures over the next decade.Well, that's it in a nutshell then, an almost 8% surplus of nurses.

Quote from hoopschick"While the number of U.S. trained licensed nurses has increased each year, the projected nursing demand growth rate from 2008–2018, as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics[16] is anticipated to be a 22%, or 2.12% annually. Therefore, the 9.8% annual growth of new R.N.'s exceeds the current new position growth rate by a net of 7.7% per year with the assumption of consistent growth figures over the next decade.Well, that's it in a nutshell then, an almost 8% surplus of nurses.

Quote from chucksterAs they say in the TV infomercials, "Wait - it gets better!"Assuming the Wikipedia info is correct, the trend for the foreseeable future is:1) A continued oversupply of nurses;2) Reduced RN staffing by hospitals;3) Increased use of UAP by those same hospitals and;4) RN wage stagnation or possibly even reductions.

In addition to the nursing shortage entry, Wikipedia needs to add a nursing surplus entry. There have been a number of surplus-shortage cycles in nursing, the last nursing shortage cycle lasted from early 2000's until 2007 (depending on area). During that time, there were many nursing journal articles published on the topic of the nursing shortage. However, now that nursing is in a surplus cycle, there have been minimal publications on the topic of the nursing surplus. As a result, nursing grads are shocked when they discover to late, that there is a surplus of nurses and jobs are few and far between. In order to make informed decsions about their careers, nurses, students and potential students need access to reliable publications that explain surplus-shortage nursing cycles and provide tips on how to anticipate and how to survive in both types of cycles.