Nursing Shortages

The U.S. is projected to experience a shortage of Registered Nurses (RNs) that is expected to intensify as Baby Boomers age and the need for health care grows. Compounding the problem is the fact that nursing schools across the country are struggling to expand capacity to meet the rising demand for care given the national move toward healthcare reform.

 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Projections 2012-2022 released in December 2013, Registered Nursing is listed among the top occupations in terms of job growth through 2022. The RN workforce is expected to grow from 2.71 million in 2012 to 3.24 million in 2022, an increase of 526,800 or 19%. The Bureau also projects the need for 525,000 replacements nurses in the workforce bringing the total number of job openings for nurses due to growth and replacements to 1.05 million by 2022!

 

We found multiple documents and resources citing reasons and contributing factors impacting the nursing shortage that included nursing school enrollments not growing fast enough to meet the projected demand; significant segments of the nursing workforce nearing retirement age; insufficient staffing is raising the stress level of nurses, impacting job satisfaction, and driving many nurses to leave the profession.  The list goes on and on. 

 

To attract much-needed nurses, some organizations are offering large sign-on bonuses and are advertising significant salary increases for key specialties, such as intensive care. However, increased stress levels and growing stories of nurse burnout make incentives like these only a short-term solution. Job dissatisfaction is on the rise due to increased workloads, longer hours and not having the resources to provide the highest quality care to patients.

 

Many hospitals and practices are turning to agencies such as Gateway to help combat these shortages.  Using a trusted partner like Gateway is beneficial for both our nurses and our healthcare partners.  On the healthcare side it's clear - unfilled shifts are staffed.  Additional staffed shifts helps to alleviate burn-out of nurses because of prolonged shifts.  And above all, patient care remains paramount.
 

On the nursing side, nurses receive a lot more flexibility with an agency - they can pick up extra shifts for spending money, they can have the flexibility to pick what shifts help with their work/life balance, they can obtain continuing education training or renewal courses to keep industry related licenses up-to-date.  Agency nursing is also a good way to break into the job market in a new location, or to make yourself known to a particular facility, your "foot in the door" so to speak.   In addition, there is the potential for short- and long-term employment contracts to provide stability.

Gateway is the bridge between facilities and nurses that is optimizing success.