The Nursing CrisisBack to IssuesAt a time when more patients are struggling to access the health care they need, nurses—the central providers of that care—are leaving the bedside in large numbers as a result of poor working conditions in hospitals.
Nurses face chronic short staffing, low wages, and mandatory overtime. All of these conditions have made it close to impossible for nurses to deliver the quality care their patients need. During the 10-year period starting in 2004, the Department of Labor estimates 1.2 million nurses will be needed to fill new and vacated nursing positions.
Nearly 500,000 registered nurses are currently working outside of nursing, and of these, more than 40 percent have left the profession for reasons related to the workplace, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
In 2001, the U.S. Government Accountability Office concluded that poor job satisfaction—including low pay—was the key to an emerging nurse shortage. The study described the developing supply issue as one of a shortage of nurses "available or willing" to accept employment under currently offered pay and working conditions.
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how higher wages and improved working conditions can help solve the crisis in nursing.
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