"Health Affairs": one in three nurses under 30 plan on leaving within a year

Charles S. Smith, RN, MS · May 15, 2001

Originally posted by PeggyOhio:
This study published in the journal "Health Affairs", states one in three nurses under age thirty plan on leaving the profession in the next year.
It compared hospitals in five countries. USA, England, Canada, Scotland, and Germany.
It is worth reading, but a little hard to get to.
Nurses' Report
On the home page click on "Current Issue" in the upper left corner.
On the new page:
Scroll down to "Nurses' Report on Hospital Care in Five Countries".
Click on the tiny words "full text"
On the new page under "Volume 20" click on "Number 3"
On the new page:
Scroll down again to "Nurses' Report on Hospital Care in Five Countries" and click on the red box "free"
On the new page there is a box "Format Selection" that explains how to download the study.
Whew!
[ May 14, 2001: Message edited by: PeggyOhio ]

Peggy, thanx for the information. I have been reading Health Affairs for years...clearly a little dry for most, but the journal does have some excellent research. Unfortunatlely, little of the content directly relates to nursing. Today, however, it is very difficult to ignore that health care as we know it will not exist without nurses. Public Policy advocates are finally sitting up and taking notice.

It is disconcerting, but I find that many new nurses in my area are in that statistically significant group. I still hold to the belief that nurses can rise out of this mess when we take personal control, responsibility and accountability for our own futures. If one has passion for some aspect of healthcare/nursing, it is possible to move forward. Visit our website listed in the profile for further information.

best regards to all

chas

Mijourney · May 16, 2001

Hi Peggy, Charles and others. What concerns me more than the loss of experienced and/or well-trained nurses is the quality of many of those attracted to nursing. In addition to a shortage of bedside nurses, we also have a shortage of knowledgeable, confident, supportive nurse educators who, as leaders and mentors, are responsible for training high quality students to come into the field. What has happened is that nursing's traditional student has found other less stressful occupations or jobs to pursue with the same or more money. It will be quite interesting to see the primary face of nursing in the next 10 to 15 years.

Charles S. Smith, RN, MS · May 16, 2001

Originally posted by Mijourney:
Hi Peggy, Charles and others. What concerns me more than the loss of experienced and/or well-trained nurses is the quality of many of those attracted to nursing. In addition to a shortage of bedside nurses, we also have a shortage of knowledgeable, confident, supportive nurse educators who, as leaders and mentors, are responsible for training high quality students to come into the field. What has happened is that nursing's traditional student has found other less stressful occupations or jobs to pursue with the same or more money. It will be quite interesting to see the primary face of nursing in the next 10 to 15 years.

MJourney...Nice to "see" you again. I could not agree more. In fact, I will take it a step further and suggest that admission requirements in schools of nursing are being diluted even as we speak. How does this bode for nursing? Unfortunately, dilution of admission standards to infuse more "bodies" into healthcare settings, will only serve to further undermine what little quality is left in healthcare. Our educational culture in nursing has always been to meet higher demand with more less qualified bodies, rather than to look at the system we use to produce nursing work. I still suggest that we must change the paradigm of professional nursing, elevate the standards and requirements for professional nursing and then create and control our own demand for nursing care. I do not believe that true professional nursing can occur unless professional nurses are aligned in independent practice groups.

best regards

chas