107th Congress

Registered Nurse Shortage: Nursing Education

Message to Congress Projections show that there will be a nationwide shortage of nurses in the next 8 to 10 years if nothing is done to alleviate the pressures that are driving people out of nursing and to attract more young people to choose nursing as a career. Therefore, ANA urges Congress to support: The Nurse Reinvestment Act (H.R. 1436, S. 706) and the Nursing Employment and Education Development (NEED) Act (S. 721). Improvements to the working environment for nurses through the elimination of the use of mandatory overtime as a staffing tool and the requirement of the use of valid and reliable staffing methodologies.

The Issues Surrounding the Emerging Registered Nurse Shortage

• RNs comprise the largest group of health care professionals in the United States, with more than 2.2 million nurses employed in health care. Nurses literally underpin the health care system.

• A fundamental shift has occurred in the Registered Nurse (RN) workforce over the last two decades. As occupational opportunities for young women have expanded, and the working conditions for nurses has deteriorated, the number of young people entering nursing has declined. The number of students entering nursing school has dropped consistently and dramatically through the mid-to-late 1990's (the General Accounting Office reports a 20% decline in BSN enrollments, 11% decline in AD, 42% decline in diploma).

• The lack of young people in nursing has resulted in a steady and dramatic increase in the average age of the US nurse. Today, the average working RN is over 43 years old.

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that 331,000 RNs (15% of the current workforce) will retire between 1998 and 2008. At the same time, the aging of the U.S. population - lead by the retirement of the baby boom generation - is expected to cause an increase in demand for nursing services. Therefore, a number of studies published by the General Accounting Office, Congressional Research Service, and the Journal of the American Medical Association have projected a nationwide shortage of RNs beginning in the year 2009 or 2010.

• Both the Nurse Reinvestment Act (H.R. 1436, S. 706) and the Nursing Education and Employment Development Act (S. 721) would address this emerging shortage by providing support for scholarships and loan repayments for nurses who agree to work in shortage areas, career ladder programs for RNs, public service announcements to promote nursing as a career, nursing faculty development, and support for the development of nursing curriculum.

• Importantly, no effort to address the impending nursing shortage will be successful unless the work environment is also improved. Conversely efforts to educate new nurses will be fruitless unless we first fix the problems that are driving experienced nurses away from the profession. For these reasons, these nurse education bills must be accompanied by a ban on the use of mandatory overtime and the implementation of improved staffing methodologies (see accompanying position papers).

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