The Evolution of a Crisis: Nursing in America

Abstract

Nursing workforce has become a priority for health care leaders, policy makers and the nursing profession. The confluence of demography, a changing health care system, social values, and work climate has created the overwhelming nature of today’s nursing crisis. These drivers represent a complexity that render past responses inadequate and serve to shape new ways in which health providers, education, government, labor, and professional groups must respond. Activities underway at the national, state, and institutional levels by various sectors range from short-term fixes to long-term interventions, which address structural issues that underlie the current shortage. Actions being taken are sequenced into four stages along a continuum, exploring the evolutionary roles of professionalism, interdependency, technology, diversity, leadership, and consumer need. Each stage represents a step toward nursing’s movement from a work force commodity to a vital strategic asset, necessary to ensure the long-term viability and success of any health care institution or system.

Organizational commitment and quality of life at work among public health nurses in Israel

“…Sikorska‐Simmons () reported that job satisfaction and higher education could explain OC among staff in assisted living. It seems, therefore, clear that an increase in the nurse's satisfaction and commitment to her workplace, is a factor that can contribute to the prevention of turnover and absences, promoting nurse retention, encouraging the recruitment of new nurses, and achieving a better clinical outcome for patients (Copanitsanou, Fotos, & Brokalaki, ; Kimball & O'Neil, ; Kutney‐Lee et al, ).…”

“…The literature argues that the professional image of nursing is one of the features that influence the choice of a nursing career. A low nursing professional image was reported to impair the recruitment of new nurses (Kimball & O'Neil, ; Rezaei‐Adaryani et al, ). Takase et al () reported that a discrepancy between the self‐image and public image adversely affected a nurse's job satisfaction.…”

Retention and Recruitment: Reversing the Order

“…In a report by Kimball and O'Neil (2002), a key recruitment strategy should be to focus on recruiting a more diverse nursing workforce, with both ethnic and racial minorities as well as men. A key reason for this revelation is that the changing demographics such as age distribution and multigenerational issues are impacting retention of nurses as well as recruitment into the nursing profession.…”

“…In 2000, men constituted 5.4% of the RN pool in the United States, up from 2.7% in 1980 (Sagon, 2003). The new nurse workforce will need to be recruited from the population who is younger than 30, which is more diverse and will create an even greater dislocation, in the future, if nurses from this current generation are not successfully recruited into the profession (Kimball & O'Neil, 2002). Figures from the U.S. Census Bureau (2000) and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) (2001), outlined in Figure 12-3, show the racial composition (African American, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaskan Native) of the U.S. population versus the percentage that are RNs.…”

AORN's response to the nursing shortage in perioperative settings

“…This analysis also indicates that the nursing shortage is present throughout the United States, except in Montana. The intensity is related to the diversity of the population and penetration of managed care independent of educational opportunities 2 …”