Читать книгу Kelly Vana's Nursing Leadership and Management - Группа авторов - Страница 148

Until recently, shortages of nurses have been cyclical. These nurse shortages are associated with increased demand for patient care services at a time of falling nursing school enrollment, salary compression, and nominal increases in wages. The U.S. is projected to experience a shortage of Registered Nurses (RNs) that is expected to intensify as Baby Boomers age. According to a 2018 survey conducted by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing and The Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers, 50.9% of the RN workforce is age 50 or older. The HRSA projects that more than 1 million registered nurses will reach retirement age within the next 10–15 years. The RN workforce was expected to grow from 2.9 million in 2016 to 3.4 million in 2026, an increase of 438,100 or 15% (ANA, 2019). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Employment Projections 2016–2026, it projects the need for an additional 203,700 new RNs each year through 2026 to fill newly created positions and to replace retiring nurses. The current nursing workforce has 56% of RNs prepared at the baccalaureate or graduate degree level. The AACN reported a 3.7% enrollment increase in baccalaureate programs in nursing in 2018. According to AACN's report on 2018–2019 Enrollment and Graduations in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing, U.S. nursing schools turned away more than 75,000 qualified applicants from baccalaureate and graduate and nursing programs in 2018. Changing demographics signal a need for more nurses to care for our aging population. Issued in May 2014, the U.S. Census Bureau report on An Aging Nation: The Older Population in the United States, found that by 2050 the number of U.S. residents aged 65 and over is projected to be 83.7 million, almost double its estimated population of 43.13 million in 2012. With larger numbers of older adults, there will be an increased need for geriatric care, including care for individuals with chronic diseases and comorbidities. With an aging nursing workforce (Norman et al., 2005), more nursing faculty is needed to train larger numbers of students.