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NATIONAL SHORTAGE OF NURSES

Nursing Workforce: Emerging Nurse Shortages Due to Multiple Factors GAO Report (July 10, 2001) - PDF File

The Nursing Shortage And Its Impact on America's Health Care Delivery System
Hearing Before The Senate Subcommitee On Aging (February 13, 2001)

The Nursing Shortage: Solutions for the Short and Long Term (January 31, 2001)

A New Image For Nursing (September 2000)

Fact Sheet on the Hospital Nursing Shortage (May 2000)

RNs: Older and Fewer

Letter to New York Times Regarding Need for Visas for Foreign-Born RN's (3-29-99)

Survey Reveals Early Warning Signs of Impending Nurse Shortage

Nurse Shortage Article on Nurse Source


Indian nurses find few takers in Britain
Sanjay Suri in London

Nurses from India are failing to find jobs in Britain despite a severe shortage of nurses.
Britain, which has in all about 630,000 nurses, has about 22,000 vacancies, according to a report in The Times.

Of the more than 8,000 nurses from non-European Union (EU) countries who came to work in Britain in 2000-01, only 289 were from India.

The number of recruits from India has remained small despite the dramatic growth in immigration of nurses.

The number of nurses from non-EU countries arriving in Britain rose from 3,621 in 1998-99 to 5,945 in 1999-2000 to 8,403 in 2000-01.

Most new nurses are arriving from the Philippines. Their number rose from 52 in 1998-99 to 3,396 last year.

The small recruitment from India follows strong opposition from the Royal College of Nursing.

A spokeswoman for the college told IANS they want to encourage recruitment 'only from countries where there is a surplus'.

Though the Royal College of Nursing cannot stop hospitals or health agencies from recruiting where they want, it is an influential body that several hospitals consult before they recruit nurses.

About 30,000 or so nurses from about 25 countries have applied for jobs in Britain. The new applicants include a large number from India.

The Royal College of Nursing is opposing these applications on the ground that India is itself short of nurses.

Thousands of Indian nurses have left over the years to take up assignments in the Gulf. The ratio of nurses to patients in India is far below internationally accepted standards.
However, the Philippines is also short of nurses after losing many to the Gulf. South Africa and Australia, which sent more than a thousand nurses to Britain last year, also suffer from a shortage of nurses.

A total of 382 nurses were recruited from Zimbabwe, 44 from Pakistan and 41 from Mauritius.

Indo-Asian News Service

5-country study reveals similar workplace problems

The United States isn't the only country facing a serious nursing shortage and a high percentage of nurses dissatisfied with their jobs.

Linda Aiken, Ph.D., RN, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, and a team of researchers surveyed 43,000 nurses from more than 700 hospitals in the United States, Canada, England, Scotland and Germany. They found that nurses in countries with different health care systems reported similar problems in their work environments.

"Our results point to the problems in working conditions that are similar across countries, and these deficiencies are at the heart of the shortage," Aiken said.

The team's American respondents were all from Pennsylvania, and the U.S. nurses surveyed were the most discontent, with 41 percent reporting that they were dissatisfied with their jobs. Scotland followed with 38 percent, England with 36 percent and Canada with 33 percent. German nurses seemed more content with only 17 percent reporting that they were dissatisfied with their jobs.

The results also suggest that a large percentage of young nurses plan to leave their jobs. In the United States, 33 percent of the respondents younger than 30 said they plan to leave in the next year, and England had the highest rate with nearly 54 percent planning to leave.

"As a whole, the data suggests greater problems for hospitals in future years unless these negative recruitment and retention trends are stemmed," according to the report.
The findings also offer reasons why so many nurses are dissatisfied. In all five countries, less than half of the nurses said that the administration listens and responds to nurses' concerns. Also, less than 38 percent in all the countries said that there are enough staff members to get the job done.

The staffing shortage also forces many RNs to perform non-nursing duties, Aiken found. More than 34 percent of nurses in the United States and 43 percent in Canada said that they performed housekeeping duties.

More than 39 percent in both countries said that they deliver and retrieve food trays. High percentages of nurses said that they transport patients and perform ancillary services.
"I hope that hospital leaders will rethink the way clinical care is organized, and take more suggestions from nurses," Aiken said. "Nurses know how to organize services better and could do a better job than what is being done."