The nursing shortage in the United States, and throughout the world is reaching staggering proportions (Cooper, 2003). Statistics show that half the nursing workforce will reach retirement age in 15 years, adding to the problem. Between 1983 and 1998, the average age of registered nurses (RNs) increased from 37 to 41.9 years, and the number of RNs under the age of 30 decreased by 41 percent. Predictions are that by the year 2010, as many as 40 percent of RNs will be more than 50 years of age. By 2020, there will be a 29 percent shortage of RNs, according to a July 2002 report by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (Buss, 2003).
One reason for the shortage is the change in generations: the baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 resulted in a large population increase through high birth rates, but the next 11 years, which produced the Generation Xers, saw a drop in the birth rate from 77 million baby boomers to only 44 million Generation Xers (Cooper, 2003). This resulted in a smaller entry-level population for the workforce. However, the aging baby boomer population will need more professional nurses, and still more nurses will be required to replace baby boomer nurses who are retiring (Buss, 2003). The problem will stem from the fact that the bulk of the nation's nurses will be retiring just as the bulk of the nation's population also retires. This will put a greater demand on the nursing work force. The U. S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that more than one million new nurses will be needed by the year 2010 to staff hospitals and medical centers. Peter Buerhaus of Vanderbilt University predicts that by the end of the decade, the registered nursing work force will drop to 20 percent below the demand, leaving a shortage of over 400,000 nurses nationwide.
Nursing education has changed dramatically, with 40 percent fewer women choosing nursing as a profession since 1973 (...