Spetz Joanne, Dyer Wendy T, Chapman Susan, Seago Jean Ann
Department of Community Health Systems, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, USA.
West J Nurs Res. 2006 Oct;28(6):726-39. doi: 10.1177/0193945906286811.
Despite evidence that hospital use of licensed practical nurses (LPNs) declined in the 1990s, the current registered nurse (RN) shortage has prompted interest in LPNs as substitutes for RNs. Hospitals, being the dominant employer of RNs, have an economic incentive to use less expensive LPNs as substitutes. Beside wages, there are several forces underlying hospital demand for LPNs. In this article, the authors model and estimate hospital demand for LPNs as a function of nurse wages and hospital, market, and patient characteristics using a longitudinal data set of short-term general hospitals in the United States. The authors find evidence that higher RN wages increase hospital demand for LPNs, both in levels and relative to RNs, suggesting that hospitals at least partially substitute RNs with LPNs.
尽管有证据表明20世纪90年代医院对执业护士（LPN）的使用有所下降，但当前注册护士（RN）的短缺引发了人们对用LPN替代RN的兴趣。医院作为RN的主要雇主，有经济动机使用成本较低的LPN作为替代。除工资外，医院对LPN的需求背后还有多种因素。在本文中，作者使用美国短期综合医院的纵向数据集，将医院对LPN的需求建模并估计为护士工资、医院、市场和患者特征的函数。作者发现有证据表明，较高的RN工资会增加医院对LPN的需求，无论是从数量上还是相对于RN的数量而言，这表明医院至少部分地用LPN替代了RN。
