nurse per capita...

[dynamicfigure]

I have often times seen cities and states refer to themselves as having high or low nurse per capita ratios, and stacking themselves up to other states regarding how bad there nursing shortage is based upon this data. One common example is that Massachusetts is widely regarded as having the highest nurse per capita ratio of any state. From there it seems that every other state in the union states that they have the lowest ratios (and hence most acute shortage)... This must be some sort of demographic or census data that is available to the public and I was curious if any of you knew where to find this statistic broken down by state... or even metro area?

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Projected Supply, Demand and Shortages of Registered Nurses: 2000-2020

http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/healthworkforce/rnproject/default.htm

Using data on supply trends drawn from the 2000 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses, supply and demand projections of registered nurses (RNs) for the period 2000 through 2020 are the subject of this report released in July 2002. These new projections show that a shortage of FTE registered nurses, previously projected to begin around 2007, was already evident in the year 2000.

The report includes

Projections of RN supply and demand, both national and State-specific, for the years 2000 through 2020

Identification and discussion of the driving forces and trends underlying the projected supply and projected demand

Relevant charts, maps and tables, presented both in the body of the report and in an appendix.

........................

Main list of Government nursing surveys listed here:

http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/nursing/

Look at National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses for 2000

http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/healthworkforce/rnsurvey/