...As the nation commemorated the 50th anniversary on Sept. 4 of the historic Nurse Training Act (Title VIII of the Public Health Service Act) aimed at educating, recruiting and retaining RNs, ANA advocated a multipronged plan to ensure a sufficient number of nurses. Demand for health care services is growing, largely due to aging baby boomers and health care reforms that increase access to care, transform the system to pay for quality, and increase the focus on prevention and primary care services.
“We’re seeing mixed signals today in the nurse employment market. There have been layoffs by some hospitals at the same time that ’registered nurse’ ranks as the most advertised position nationwide,” said ANA President Pamela F. Cipriano, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN. “But it would be a big mistake to ignore the reality of an aging population coupled with a graying nursing workforce. It is essential that we take common-sense actions to plan for and invest in the next generations of nurses. Demand for care is going to grow, and nurses are going to retire in droves, so we have to prepare now to meet future needs.”
ANA’s recommendations included:
• Increasing federal funding for Title VIII, a program that has seen an average 2 percent funding decrease over the last four years, despite growing demand for RNs and shortages in some areas. ANA advocates an increase of 12 percent for 2015.
• Bolstering nursing education by developing and recruiting more nursing professors and ensuring an adequate number of clinical training sites for nursing students. To meet the needs for new nurses, nursing schools must increase capacity, replace an aging faculty workforce and increase incentives for teaching the next generation of RNs.
• Highlighting the importance of the transition from education to practice for the nursing workforce. With so many RNs nearing retirement age, forward-thinking hospitals and other employers should hire new nursing graduates now so they can learn from experienced RNs.
By a wide margin, “registered nurse” ranks first among all occupations requiring an associate or baccalaureate degree for entry in the projected number of annual job openings through 2022. As Title VIII turned 50 in September, ANA focused efforts on ensuring that policymakers recognized the employment demands and actions needed to develop a sufficient workforce. ...
I remember when President Johnson signed the Nurses Training Act of 1964. Despite current state of new nurses unable to be employed in hospital setting, there are jobs out there for nurses. As healthcare shifts to outpatient settings, nursing educators need to prepare current students to adjust their employment expectations and prepare graduates to function in these outpatient roles.
