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Mistaken Focus on the Pipeline

In 2001, more than 25 state laws were enacted to address the nursing shortage; two-thirds of these were designed to encourage more students to go into nursing programs.9

While perhaps well-intentioned, these initiatives are misguided. Producing more nursing school graduates will do little good if these nurses become disillusioned and drop out after a few years of facing the reality of hospital work. This, in fact, is exactly what the evidence suggests. "Nurses leave nursing after one year," explained one hospital's human resources director, "because it is so hard and too fast-paced."10 Under these conditions, a strategy of expanding the pipeline is akin to pouring water into a bucket that has a gaping hole in its bottom and wondering why it never seems to fill up.

 

 Views of Nurses Considering Leaving
the Profession: Most Effective Strategies for
Recruiting and Retaining Quality Nurses

 Better staffing ratios  87%
 More patient time  81%
 Input in decisions  79%
 Higher salaries  76%
 Flexible scheduling options  69%
 More part-time options  63%
 Continuing education   61%
 Better health coverage  60%
 Source: American Federation of Teachers, Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals,
The Nurse Shortage, p. 24.


  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 

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