Nursing Shortage Update: A Conversation With Peter Buerhaus

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

from pa nurses e-update:

nursing shortage update: a conversation with peter buerhaus

in 2000, peter i. buerhaus, rn, phd, faan, together with economists david auerbach and douglas staiger, published in the journal of the american medical association the results of their seminal research about a looming nursing shortage, then in its infancy. a follow-up article on the shortage by buerhaus was published in reflections on nursing leadership (rnl) in early 2001. now, seven years later, in a conversation with editor james mattson, buerhaus brings rnl readers up to date on the current and future state of the shortage. read more

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Not a mention of the words "ratio" (as in nurse-patient) or "working conditions" in this interview?

To address the nursing shortage, we need to addresss working conditions, and especially staffing. If not, all the sentimental J&J ads in the world won't do a thing to increase retention. My question to the system is, "Ya can recruit, but can ya retain?"

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Yeah, I was looking for some mention of the discouragement nurses feel and how many are leaving the profession based on that. Especially fairly new nurses.

steph

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Specializes in He who hesitates is probably right....

There are a TON of RNs out there who are no longer in nursing. Probably enough to alleviate the "shortage". Low pay, odd hours, and ludicrous workloads send a lot of RNs to other fields. One of our local health systems is notorious for it's poor treatment of staff nurses. However, they operate two nursing schools, and gain other RNs from at least a half dozen other schools in the area. With a continuous supply of new grads, they can afford high turnover. Losing experienced RNs doesn't seem to matter. It's all about numbers. If you have a license, or can get one, and you can fog a mirror, you're in. It is hard to find facilities that value their RNs, but they are out there. We have quite a few large facilities in western PA. (Pittsburgh area), and only ONE magnet hospital. That speaks volumes about the value of RNs in this market.

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

in your 2007 article in the journal health affairs, you and your colleagues note that one result of the more optimistic, updated forecast is decreased pressure on other countries facing their own nursing shortages. do you foresee less dependence in the united states on nurse migration?

we're into a new world now. a global nurse labor market is developing and will develop and evolve over the next decade. we have a global shortage today. the price of getting foreign-educated nurses will be higher than employers are used to paying. there will be more competition for these nurses in the future as the shortage in the united states grows,so i really fear that employers and others will gather the support needed to create some sort of substitute for nurses, and i worry about the quality and safety of patient care that could be an outcome

bingo!

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the link you gave requires login and password. this link shows the article without hassles:

http://nursingsociety.org/rnl/4q_2007/features/feature2.html

from pa nurses e-update:

nursing shortage update: a conversation with peter buerhaus

in 2000, peter i. buerhaus, rn, phd, faan, together with economists david auerbach and douglas staiger, published in the journal of the american medical association the results of their seminal research about a looming nursing shortage, then in its infancy. a follow-up article on the shortage by buerhaus was published in reflections on nursing leadership (rnl) in early 2001. now, seven years later, in a conversation with editor james mattson, buerhaus brings rnl readers up to date on the current and future state of the shortage. read more

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Looks like the main emphasis is on lack of nursing educators. I've read somewhere on this board that nursing educators are making less than their students. This tends to be true for alot of educational ventures. I fear like has already been pointed out that nurses will eventually be replaced with something less than desirable for the patient.

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Looks like the main emphasis is on lack of nursing educators. I've read somewhere on this board that nursing educators are making less than their students. This tends to be true for alot of educational ventures. I fear like has already been pointed out that nurses will eventually be replaced with something less than desirable for the patient.

That is one of the biggest reasons that nurses need to differentiate themselves from their lesser educated "counterparts" by increaasing our entry level education. The public equates worth with education. Educationally, not much separates RNs from LPNs, Nurses aides, CNAs Medtechs, etc. Two years vs one or less. And you can be sure in the years to come, that hospitals and nursing homes will be pushing this to the public. I can hear it now. "You don't need an RN, why they only go to school a few months more than CNAs and medtechs". "Why should we pay an RN 'top dollar' to do what a Nurses Aids will do for less, and bring down the cost of you healthcare?" And that is what they will say.

Nurses don't realize that hospitals fear nurses coming together and challenging them and taking control of nursing profession. One of the biggest factors that will unite us in a standard entry into practice at the Bachelors degree level. It will bring us into the same league as other health care professionals who years ago, increased their entry into practice. It hasn't hurt them, has it? In fact, it has been a boon to them, in terms of pay and prestige. Potential applicants are breaking down their doors to appy to PT and OT schools.

For those of you who think that I am an alarmist, just look at the "dumbing down" and de skilling of the nursing professsion. Never in my wildest dreams, (or nightmares) did I ever think that a nurses aide would be given the professional responsibility of passing medications ANYWHERE. How did this happen? Nurses were asleep at the wheel, and our State "Professional" Organizations, were bribed into allowing it. Along with the state BONs.

It will be even more important for nurses to come together as a group, and educate the public as to our worth, what we bring to the table of patient care, and fight the AHA and nursing home organizations, to prevent anymore de skilling of our professional practice. Nurses, that is going to meant unionizing to have protection to speak to the public about topics that hospitals and nursing homes do not want the public to hear about. While I am on the subject of the so called nursing shortage, I would like to point out that Peter Beurhaus stated that there will be a shortage of 500, 000 nurses in the future. I believe that 500, 000 nurses have left the profession in disgust, and those numbers could easily eliminate the nursing shortage. And putting in place workplace perks that would encourage nurses to come back to work- shorter shifts, lifting teams, adjusting night shifts schedules-, etc. And just hiring older nurses. You might as well have leprosy to than apply for a hospital job if you have been out of the workplace for a few years. JMHO, and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN ,BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

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