American Nurses Association Applauds JCAHO's Focus on Nursing Shortage

Washington, DC -- The American Nurses Association (ANA) commends the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) for its focus on the nursing shortage with today's release of its report, Health Care at the Crossroads: Strategies for Addressing the Evolving Nursing Crisis. The JCAHO report reaffirms several of the findings and recommendations that the nursing community issued in its own report, Nursing's Agenda for the Future, in April.

"ANA applauds the efforts put forth by JCAHO in developing this report," said ANA President Barbara A. Blakeney, MS, APRN,BC, ANP. "JCAHO has correctly determined that the nursing shortage can threaten patient safety and diminish the quality of health care and that the underlying causes of the nursing shortage must be addressed. We're pleased that this report reinforces the nursing community's own recommendations."

Those recommendations were developed by 60 national nursing organizations during the September 2001 "Call to the Profession" and are contained in the April 2002 document, Nursing's Agenda for the Future. Nursing's Agenda, details nursing's strategic plan to address the complex, interrelated factors that have created the growing shortage of nurses. Nursing leaders will advance this plan to stakeholders outside of nursing, including policy-makers, consumers, purchasers and other health care providers, at a "Call to the Nation" planned for 2003.

"We need to change the environment in which nurses work, in order to retain the nurses we will need to treat the aging baby boom generation," Blakeney said. "We also need to bring more people into the nursing profession."

That need was underscored by a July 2002 study from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) confirming that a nursing shortage already exists in the United States. According to the HHS study, in 2000, there was a shortage of 110,000 nurses (6 percent). Without changes in the system, the HHS study predicts that shortage will grow to 12 percent by the year 2010, 20 percent by 2015, and 29 percent by 2020.

The JCAHO report recommends changes in the system through creating organizational cultures of retention, bolstering the nursing education infrastructure, and establishing financial incentives for health care organizations to invest in nursing. ANA is particularly pleased that JCAHO recommends that facilities adopt the characteristics of Magnet hospitals to foster a workplace that empowers and is respectful of nursing staff. Magnet status is awarded to hospitals by the ANA's subsidiary, the American Nurses Credentialing Center, to recognize health care organizations that provide the very best in nursing care and support professional nursing practice.

"Health care facilities with the Magnet designation have been proven to improve patient care delivery and nurse retention," Blakeney said. "Research projects have suggested that Magnet facilities have lower mortality rates and shorter lengths of stay for patients, increased career satisfaction for nurses, and increased RN retention and recruitment rates."

The release of the JCAHO report follows last week's signing by President Bush of the Nurse Reinvestment Act, which also recommends the adoption of Magnet characteristics by hospitals.

Specifically, the new law includes grants to encourage facilities to implement Magnet criteria. The law also provides educational scholarships for nurses who agree to work in shortage areas after they graduate. The ANA and the nursing community worked closely with members of Congress on this legislation and was a strong advocate for its passage.

"Passage of the Nurse Reinvestment Act was a first step in addressing the shortage," Blakeney said. "We believe the JCAHO report will be another valuable step by helping to build the critical mass of support that will be needed to change the outlook for nursing in America. ANA looks forward to continuing activities with JCAHO, related to improving the safety and quality of patient care provided to all Americans."

Nursing's Agenda for the Future is available from the ANA at www.nursingworld.org/naf. Reporters who wish to request a printed copy of the publication may call (202) 651-7028. For a summary of Health Care at the Crossroads: Strategies for Addressing the Evolving Nursing Crisis, contact JCAHO at (630) 792-5175.

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ANA is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.7 million Registered Nurses through its 54 constituent associations. ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

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