REGISTERED NURSES SHORTAGES

Registered Nurses Shortages

Registered Nurses Shortages

Abstract

Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2011 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to require each Medicare participating hospital to implement a hospital-wide staffing plan for nursing services furnished in the hospital. There are a number of hospitals throughout the United States that do not provide adequate registered nurse staffing to protect the health and safety of patients. Research shows that patient safety in hospitals is directly proportionate to the number of registered nurses working in the hospital. Higher staffing levels by experienced registered nurses are related to lower rates of negative patient outcomes, including falls, infections, medication errors, and even death. Inadequate nurse staffing was found to be a contributing factor in 24 percent of all unanticipated events that resulted in patient death, injury, or permanent loss of function. Registered nurses play a vital role in preventing patient care errors, for example registered nurses intercepted 86 percent of medical errors before those errors affected patients. As a payer for inpatient and outpatient hospital services for individuals entitled to benefits under the Medicare program, the Federal Government has a compelling interest in promoting the safety of such individuals by requiring any hospital participating in that program to establish minimum safe staffing levels for registered nurses. Adequate registered nurse staffing levels are necessary for the delivery of safe, quality care. Inadequate registered nurse staffing levels contribute to nurse burnout and exacerbate the current nursing shortage in the United States. Nearly 25 percent of registered nurses indicate that they are considering leaving direct patient care nursing due to inadequate nurse staffing, and nearly 60 percent of registered nurses report they know of another nurse who left direct care nursing because of concerns about inadequate nurse staffing.

Introduction of Problem/Issue and Related Bill

The United States is currently facing a nursing shortage which is projected to worsen in the future. The shortage is driven by a number of factors related to recruitment and retention. Fewer young women enter Registered Nurse (RN) programs as career opportunities in other fields have expanded. Many qualified applicants are also turned away due to a shortage of nursing faculty at schools. This shortfall in recruitment has had two main consequences. First, the current workforce is aging; more than one-third of nurses are 40 years or older. Second, the workforce has to care for a larger number of patients and work longer shifts. High levels of job dissatisfaction and burnout have lowered the retention rates of both newly graduated and experienced nurses. Their negative experiences have had a cyclical effect making recruitment even more challenging.

The main objective is to increase the recruitment and retention of registered nurses through short and long-term strategies. Legislation at the federal and state levels have been introduced which increase grants for nurse education, mandate minimum nurse to patient staffing ratios, and restrict the amount of overtime hours. In the short term, hospitals are hiring temporary nurses from domestic and international agencies, and increasing salaries and ...