Analysis: Nursing shortage over … for now

Although an anlysis found that the national nursing shortage has abated in the short term, the author warns that filling nursing vacancies could be harder than ever by 2020 (Source: “Nursing shortage over, for now, study says,” (Cincinnati) Business Courier, March 23, 2012).

According to the analysis, which was published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, hospital employment of registered nurses increased by an estimates 243,000 in 2007 and 2008, the largest increase during any 2-year period in 40 years.

Douglas Staiger, author of the piece and economics professor at Dartmouth College, wrote that the increase may be attributed to the fact that many RNs who were not working or were working part-time may have rejoined the workforce or worked more hours to improve their household’s financial security during the economic downturn.

“Employers and workforce policymakers should not be lulled into complacency by the current absence of a nursing shortage,” Staiger wrote. “Instead, they should anticipate that the current positive effect of a weak economy on the RN labor supply is likely to evaporate as the economy improves and that shortages will reemerge.”

In November 2009, HPIO published a paper titled "The Future of the Nursing Workforce in Ohio," (pdf, 24 pages).