Nurses Needed Stat

From CREATING INTELLECTUAL COMMUNITIES, Volume 1, Number 2, 2007

Can U.S. Schools Meet the Demand?

The nursing shortage in the United States has been well publicized over the last decade. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), the nursing shortage remains a topic of primary concern. According to the AACN website:

• More than one million new and replacement nurses will be needed by 2012 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, February, 2004).
• Forty-four states plus the District of Columbia are expected to have a nursing shortage by 2020, up from 30 states in 2000 (Health Resources and Services Administration Report, 2002).
• The number of U.S. nursing school graduates who have sat for the NCLEX-RN – the national licensing exam for RN’s – has decreased 10 percent from 1995 to 2004 (National Council of State Boards of Nursing).

This shortage will likely be exacerbated by the rise in palliative-care programs in this country, where nurses are playing a greater role in comfort and end-of-life care within hospital and assisted-living facility settings. Hospitals and other health-care facilities are using a variety of incentives and staffing sources in an attempt to fill the never-ending stream of staffing vacancies. Now, nursing schools are jumping into the fray with an attempt to attract and retain a greater number of qualified nursing students.

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