There are reports of current nurse shortages in all but a few OECD countries. With further increases in demand for nurses expected and nurse workforce ageing predicted to reduce the supply of nurses, shortages are likely to persist or even increase in the future, unless action is taken to increase flows into and reduce flows [...]

In a recent article titled “The Economics of Vocation or ‘Why Is a Badly Paid Nurse a Good Nurse?’” economist Anthony Heyes (2005) argues that a willingness to accept a lower wage, all else equal, distinguishes a “good” nurse from the “wrong sort.” Therefore, he argues, raising nurses’ pay would reduce the proportion of nurses [...]

Since the current nurse shortage began in the late 1990s, the number of private, for profit international recruiting companies specializing in bringing foreign-educated nurses (FENs) to the United States has grown by almost 10-fold. The expansion came after several decades characterized by what recruiters term “a cozy niche” of about 30 to 40 companies. Today, [...]

More Efficient Communications for More Efficient Patient Care
The Cisco® Nurse Connect solution facilitates collaboration among mobile caregivers, enabling them to reach each other and to be reached over multiple types of devices, wherever they have a wireless signal. This provides more efficient patient care from almost any location. The integrated Cisco Nurse Connect voice and [...]

Anticipated and actual shortages of primary care physicians have led policymakers to consider the roles of nurse practitioners (NPs) in improving access to primary health care services. Over the past 20 years, an increase in the numbers of NPs, enactment of state laws expanding the scope of practice, prescriptive authority and third-party reimbursement, and national [...]

Adequate nurse staffing is critical to the delivery of quality patient care.1 Identifying and maintaining the appropriate number and mix of nursing staff is a problem experienced by nurses at every level in all settings. Regardless of organizational mission, tempering the realities of cost containment and cyclical nursing shortages with the priority of safe, quality [...]

In 2004, the Health Services and Resources Administration (HRSA) issued a Request for Proposals for a two-year research project to gather information and insights in support of the development of a new methodology for identifying health care facilities and communities with critical shortages of registered nurses (RNs). HRSA’s decision to support this research was based [...]

The Health Services and Resources Administration (HRSA) issued a Request for Proposals for a two-year research project to gather information and insights in support of the development of a new methodology for identifying health care facilities and communities with critical shortages of registered nurses (RNs). HRSA’s decision to support this research was based in large [...]

Registered nurses are responsible for a large portion of the health care provided in this country. RNs make up the largest group of health care providers, and, historically, have worked predominantly in hospitals; in 2000, 59.1 percent of RNs were employed in hospital settings. A smaller number of RNs work in other settings such as [...]