Anno Tony, Hornberger Cynthia
Washburn University, USA.
Kans Nurse. 2007 Apr;82(4):9-11.
The current nursing shortage is reaching a critical level (Buerhaus, Donelan, Ulrich, Norman, & Dittus, 2006). As baby boomers reach an age when they will require increased healthcare the demand for nurses will accelerate over the foreseeable future. One issue impacting the desirability of nursing as a career is salary compensation. Nurse salaries have not kept up with the rate of inflation (American Association of State Colleges and Universities, 2005) while hospital Chief Executive Officer (CEO) compensation has increased (Westfall, 2005). The purpose of this study was to examine the compensation growth of hospital CEO's compared to nurses over the past three years in Kansas. Hospital CEO data was obtained from the Internal Revenue Service form 990 retrieved from the public domain. Nursing salary data was obtained from archival data published by the Kansas Department of Labor Statistics. Data analyses described differences in the salaries of nurses and chief executive officers in Kansas over a three-year period and within subgroups defined by geographical region. During this three year period Kansas hospital CEOs' compensation increased 23.2% compared to a national increase of 9%. Registered Nurses' compensation in Kansas increased 17.39% compared to a national average of 11%. Licensed Practical Nurse compensation in Kansas increased 6.28% compared to a national average of 9%. The population in the United States is growing older at the same time demand for nurses will accelerate (Lovell, 2006). The shortage of nurses is reaching a critical level as hospitals try to provide care. Causes of the shortage are multifaceted and include the demand for nurses outpacing supply and compensation trends. In Kansas, the supply of nurses is hampered by a present shortage of nursing faculty that will be exacerbated by the impending retirement of a sizable portion of the faculty in the next decade (Hornberger, Hess, & Thompson, 2005). The lack of faculty impairs nursing programs' ability to expand enrollments to produce adequate numbers of new nurse graduates (Bliss, Valiga, & Novak, 2004). With an insufficient supply of future graduates, hospitals--which employ 60 percent of all nurses--face the immediate problem of filling enough positions to provide adequate care to patients (Cohen, 2006). In spite of this shortage, salaries have not risen substantially over the past several years, and real wages, when adjusted for inflation, have actually declined (Lovell).
当前护士短缺正达到危急程度（布尔豪斯、多内兰、乌尔里希、诺曼和迪塔斯，2006年）。随着婴儿潮一代步入需要更多医疗保健服务的年龄，在可预见的未来，对护士的需求将加速增长。影响护理职业吸引力的一个问题是薪资待遇。护士薪资未能跟上通货膨胀率（美国州立学院与大学协会，2005年），而医院首席执行官（CEO）的薪酬却有所增加（韦斯特福尔，2005年）。本研究的目的是考察过去三年堪萨斯州医院CEO与护士的薪酬增长情况。医院CEO的数据取自从公共领域获取的美国国税局990表格。护士薪资数据取自堪萨斯州劳工统计局发布的存档数据。数据分析描述了堪萨斯州护士和首席执行官在三年期间以及按地理区域划分的子群体内的薪资差异。在这三年期间，堪萨斯州医院CEO的薪酬增长了23.2%，而全国增长了9%。堪萨斯州注册护士的薪酬增长了17.39%，而全国平均增长为11%。堪萨斯州执业护士的薪酬增长了6.28%，而全国平均增长为9%。美国人口老龄化的同时，对护士的需求将加速增长（洛弗尔，2006年）。随着医院努力提供护理服务，护士短缺正达到危急程度。短缺的原因是多方面的，包括对护士的需求超过供给以及薪酬趋势。在堪萨斯州，护士供应受到当前护理师资短缺的阻碍，而在未来十年，相当一部分师资即将退休，这将使情况更加恶化（霍恩伯格、赫斯和汤普森，2005年）。师资短缺削弱了护理专业扩大招生以培养足够数量新护士毕业生的能力（布利斯、瓦利加和诺瓦克，2004年）。由于未来毕业生供应不足，雇用了所有护士60%的医院面临着立即填补足够岗位以向患者提供充分护理的问题（科恩，2006年）。尽管存在短缺，但在过去几年里薪资并未大幅上涨，经通货膨胀调整后的实际工资实际上有所下降（洛弗尔）。
