Media Coverage of the Nursing Shortage

PBS "Now" Story

Finally the nursing shortage has received some well-deserved coverage
that, in many ways, actually did the subject justice. Now with David
Brancacc, a weekly half-hour television show of investigative journalism
on PBS (previously hosted and made famous by Bill Moyers ,has focused its
attention on the nursing shortage in America. I only hope that the message
delivered is heard by the people who most need to hear it.

With a shortage of as many as one million nurses projected by the year
2020, calls to address this crisis within the troubled American
healthcare system are becoming louder and louder.

As described in the course of the program which aired Sunday, Oct 24 on
PBS, nurses are the engine that keep the healthcare system humming.
While doctors may sometimes receive the lions' share of the praise for
life-saving surgical techniques and heroic medical measures, it is
round-the-clock nursing care that can often mean the difference between
life and death. And as outlined during Mr. Brancaccio's investigative
story, a number of studies have demonstrated quite clearly that when the
number of patients cared for by nurses increases, mortality also
increases. And by most measures, successful outcomes most often directly
correspond to the quality of nursing care received.

As the population ages and lives longer with more chronic illness, the
need for nurses in hospitals, health centers, nursing homes, and in home
care will continue to increase exponentially. (It was pointed out during
the broadcast that approximately 75 cents of every healthcare dollar is
spent on chronic illness.) And with nurses working harder as salaries
remain essentially stagnant in the face of increasing workloads and a
sagging economy, attrition from the profession should be of paramount
concern.

Speaking of attrition, approximately 25% of new nurses reportedly leave
the profession each year, and one can only imagine that falling from the
frying pan of nursing school into the fire of full-time nursing may be
one of the many factors that push new graduates right out of the
profession before they have even had the chance to settle in.

As 25% of new nurses leave the profession, the average age of the
American nurse continues to increase, with retirements from active duty
occurring on a daily basis. Meanwhile, 70% of nursing schools turn away
thousands of qualified applicants due to a shortage of nursing faculty
which, if left unchecked, will continue to cripple any efforts to
assuage a shortage that only seems to expand with each year that passes.

An idea for retaining new nurses who have recently entered the field was
explored during the broadcast.  Some facilities utilize a year-long
residency or internship structure so that new graduates actually receive
the guidance and mentorship needed to make it in the real world,
post-nursing school. Similar to the medical residency that newly-minted
doctors receive, a nursing residency or internship allows a new nurse
sufficient time to receive the focused training that he or she will need
in order to deliver high quality and safe care. Thus prepared for
full-time nursing, the new graduate is thus less likely to burn out, and
more likely to succeed in his or her work and be satisfied with a newly
chosen profession that desperately needs to retain its newest recruits.

Watch the Now broadcast in streaming video on your computer...

Find out what hospitals in your state have received the American Nurses Association "stamp of approval"...

Follow a week in the life of a new graduate working on a New York City burn unit...

My one criticism of the program is that, like all media covering nursing
and the shortage, only hospital-based nursing was addressed. There was
no mention of home care, community health, public health, psychiatric
mental health nursing or school nursing, areas which are also struggling
mightily with the effects of the shortage. This focus on hospital
nursing-however important hospital care certainly is-only serves to
underscore the public's (and the media's) misconceptions about nursing.
Our society seems to see nurses solely as workers in the hospital,
overlooking the fact that nurses provide crucial care to myriad
populations of citizens well beyond the walls of the nation's hospitals.

Such media attention on the crisis of the national-and global-nursing
shortage is truly needed, and it is only by educating the public (and
our elected officials) about the crucial need for nurses that change and
growth might occur. While Barack Obama and John McCain both have, to
some extent, made gestures vis-a-vis the shortage of nurses in America
today, a new administration in Washington will have many pressing issues
to address as power is assumed in January of 2009, and fixes to the
healthcare system will certainly take time.

No matter how the economic climate evolves, people will still get sick
and need nursing care and medical care. No matter how many banks fail,
hospital doors will still be open, visiting nurse agencies will visit
patients at home, and surgeries and emergencies will continue to occur.
Even as the global economy reels from the latest financial implosion,
qualified applicants will be turned away from nursing schools and
shortages of nursing faculty (due to relatively low salaries and other
factors) will plague the halls of academia.

A new administration will need to have the political will to take some
bold strides vis-a-vis the American healthcare system. The delivery of
care as it pertains to chronic illness will need to be addressed.
Nursing faculty-the key to educating new nurses in preparation for the
workforce-will need to receive improved compensation for their important
work as educators of future nurses. Nursing students from a broad
socioeconomic spectrum will need scholarships and grants to offset the
costs of a community college or university education. And healthcare
facilities will need funds to give new graduates the time and attention
they need for mentorship and preparation for autonomous practice.

Comments

[Donna Grande]

Thank you for your comments about the need to raise awareness on the Nursing Shortage. The Visiting Nurse Associations of America (VNAA) shares your concern about the lack of information on the need for home healthcare nurses and is working with elected officials to propose some solutions in the next Congress. Please check our Website in the coming months for new information about our efforts: www.vnaa.org.

Thanks!