Nursing a shortage 2006
The health care industry provides some useful
examples of the ongoing jockeying between workers and employers,
as each modifies demands according to changing conditions.
Before the recession, signing bonuses and other
perks were common for open nursing positions. In North Dakota and
Wisconsin, hospitals started recruiting nurses from the
Philippines to fill open positions. Today, despite the recession,
sources in places like Pierre (S.D.), St. Paul (Minn.) and Barron
County (Wis.) note continued shortages of nurses and other health
care workers.
But in some cases, the recession appears to
have given health care providers a brief respite. In Minnesota,
registered nurse vacancies declined by 42 percent between second
quarters of 2001 and 2003, according to a report last year by the
state Department of Employment and Economic Development. The
reason for the drop appears to be multifaceted. First, some nurses
were reportedly picking up more hours, while others who had left
the profession returned, often to compensate for a laid-off spouse
or other concerns induced by the economic downturn.
The industry has also seen a surge of students
going into nursing. The Minnesota System of Colleges and
Universities alone has added seven nursing programs since 2001. A
human resources contact with a major Twin Cities health care
provider, who asked not to be identified, said the firm undertook
several major initiatives to get more nurses into the pipeline
several years back, and nursing vacancy rates for this particular
provider had gone down significantly because of newly minted
nurses. But the influx hasn't eliminated the shortage so much as
shifted its focus.
“It's a different type of shortage. There's too
many new grads now,” the health care source said, with shortages
today in experienced nurses able to handle high-skill areas such
as kidney dialysis, surgery and intensive care units.
That kind of shortage is likely to fester, as
reports from a host of states continue to predict significant
shortages of nurses and other health care workers over the long
term because of an aging (and soon retiring) workforce and
population, which will increase the demand for health care and
health care workers. A 2003 report by Minnesota's Office of Rural
Health and Primary Care estimates an annual nursing gap of some
2,000 (though it based supply figures on registered nurse licenses
issued from 1996 to 2000, which doesn't take into account the
subsequent growth in nursing programs and enrollments).
But not all regions are scrambling for nurses
and other health care workers. Lynn Brooks, vice president of
human resources with St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, Mont., said
via e-mail that strong in-migration to that area has meant that
health care facilities in the region “are fortunate to have a
surplus of many of the professionals that are in short supply in
many other parts of the country.”
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