By
Jennifer Larson, feature
writer
The
federal Health Resources and Services Administration released Feb. 22 the
long-awaited final results of the 2000 National Sample Survey of Registered
Nurses.
The data
was derived from responses from a total of 35,579 individual nurses and again
confirmed the existence of a severe nursing shortage in the United States.
For the
first time, the surveyors from this division of the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services asked nurses about job satisfaction. About 70 percent of the
respondents acknowledged satisfaction with their current position.
However,
the report noted, “This general level of satisfaction is markedly lower than
levels seen in the employed general population.” In fact, the report stated
that 85 percent of workers in general reported satisfaction with their jobs from
1985-1996, according to the National Opinion Research Center.
Nurses’
job satisfaction tends to vary by their work locations, with hospital and
nursing home nurses reporting the lowest level of satisfaction, the survey
found. The highest level of job satisfaction was reported by nurse educators, at
83 percent.
Overall,
however, staff nurses were the least likely to be satisfied by their current
positions.
Age and
position play “powerful roles” in determining job satisfaction, the study
noted. More than 60 percent of the RNs surveyed who were employed in 2000 were
staff nurses.
Also,
there is evidence that job satisfaction is connected to job turnover rates, and
there is beginning to be a body of work linking job satisfaction with quality of
patient care.
The
nursing shortage worsened during the time period measured in the survey. There
are an estimated 2,696,540 RNs with active licenses, an increase of 137,666
since 1996. That is the lowest increase (5.4 percent) in the total RN population
as reported in previous surveys.
Of those
individuals, about 18.3 percent were not employed in a nursing job. That
represents a 15.2 percent increase over the number of licensed nurses not
working in a nursing job as recorded in the 1996 survey.
Also, the
rate of nurses entering the workforce from 1996-2000 was just 4.1 percent,
compared with a rate above 14 percent from 1992-1996. The peak year for RNs
being employed in nursing jobs was 1996, with 82.7 percent.
The study
also noted that the registered nurse population is aging, with the average age
being 45.2 years. About 18.3 percent of RNs were under the age of 35 in 2000,
although 40.5 percent were under 35 in 1980.
Overall,
HHS reported that too few young people are choosing nursing as their careers.
To rectify
that, HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson and Education Secretary Rod Paige unveiled
a new education campaign designed to promote nursing and other health care
professions to school children.
Thompson
and Paige kicked off the “Kids
into Health Careers” campaign at a Washington, D.C., junior high school Feb.
22. The Health Resources and Services Administration’s Bureau of Health
Professions will operate the program.
Organizations
that receive grants through HRSA will be required to reach out to schools in
their communities to teach children about health professions. Special tool kits
will be available with information on health careers such as nursing and
physical therapy, as well as information on education preparation, salary
outlooks, and financial assistance.
Feb.
26, 2002. © 2002. NurseZone.com. All Rights Reserved.