Introduction
FIGURE
When is the nursing shortage expected to reach its peak? What has happened with nursing school enrollments during the past several years? What is the average age of the registered nurse workforce in the United States? On a national level, what has been suggested as solutions to the shortage? What legislation surrounding the nursing shortage has been introduced and/or passed? Answers to these types of questions are often needed in a moments notice by nursing leaders.
The nursing shortage is a topic that is certainly at the forefront of healthcare. One can hardly pick up an issue of a healthcare or nursing trade journal or listen to the radio or television news without some mention of the nursing shortage. Nurse executives have a need for quick access to statistical and other related information about the nursing shortage. Nursing leaders must have accurate and timely information to use in evaluation and planning solutions as well as for communication with the various interested constituencies-frontline staff, other senior leaders in organizations, the community, media, and legislators.
Site
Using Google, a popular Internet search engine, the term "nursing shortage" returned 31,000 sites. I refined the search a bit and located a site that provides current and relevant information about the nursing shortage-the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)-http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Media/shortageresource.htm.
Description
AACN's nursing shortage page is found in the site's "Media Relations" section. Information is organized into 4 major headings, each containing multiple other sources of information:
* About the Nursing Shortage
* Strategies for Addressing the Nursing Shortage
* Legislation Aimed at Addressing the Nursing Shortage
* A snapshot of Today's Nursing Workforce
The section titled "About the Nursing Shortage" contains links to the demographic and statistical analysis of the shortage. It also includes links to relevant governmental and professional association studies of the issue.
"Strategies for Addressing the Nursing Shortage" contains links that relate more prominently to nursing education rather than service. This should be expected because the primary function of the organization sponsoring the site represents nursing education. There were links to 6 different studies-including the tri-council report on strategies, two reports from Nurses for a Healthier Tomorrow, and the recent Johnson & Johnson nurse recruitment campaign. Similarly, the "legislation" section provides links to the major federal legislative activities surrounding the shortage-with a significant nursing education focus.
The "snapshot" section includes links to 3 other sections. Although slightly dated (2000) the first has information about the shortage. The other two links are relevant and useful government-sanctioned study data.
Analysis
This site has the potential to be extremely useful to the nurse executive in monitoring trends and leading to potential solutions to the nursing shortage. Although there may be significant confidence in the provider of the information, users should, of course, confirm and double-check data for currency and accuracy. With some of the information as old as 2000, users may need access to the actual studies published earlier about the shortage in 2000 and 2001. One link that was marked "new" linked directly to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Web page, where a recent study is published. This lends confidence that the AACN is continuing to add to the site as relevant information is available. I did see one reference that listed "Last update March 1, 2002," which further increases confidence in the reliability of the site.
Having the links to the actual studies is extremely convenient . Each link was titled clearly and succinctly, which led to ease of use. One word of advice, though, some of the links to actual studies require the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader to access the text of the study. If users don't have this or are not accustomed to using it, it is free to download it online (http://www.adobe.com) and relatively easy to use.
There were no graphics to speak of other than a few pictures on the Web page. Although some users may find this a turnoff, it was perfect for my style of gathering information. There was no fluff-just raw data in the purest form. Although there are no Power Point screens to download and import into presentations, it provides a clean source of raw material to be used in developing reports.
I liked that the site serves as a type of nursing shortage clearinghouse. Multiple sources of information lend credibility to a multidimensional view of the issue.
Access to accurate succinct information about the nursing shortage is important for nursing leaders. The information contained in this site will aid not only in developing presentaons but also in responding to the media, studying the issue in relation to current situations in a particular organization, and finding legislation. In addition, keeping a pulse on nursing education's perspective of the issue will help to make sure that we stay in touch with the "supply" side of the issue.