School of Nursing, University of Rochester, New York, NY, USA.
Health Aff (Millwood). 2012 Nov;31(11):2510-7. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2011.1297.
In the past three decades, the shortage of nurses willing to work in hospitals has been a persistent challenge in the United States. Hiring supplemental registered nurses-nurses on short-term contracts obtained through an external staffing agency-has been common to fill gaps in nurse staffing. But there has been insufficient evidence about supplemental nurse workforce trends to inform workforce policy. To address this concern, we compared qualifications and characteristics of supplemental nurses with those of permanent nurses during 1984-2008. The two groups shared similar education levels in terms of possessing a baccalaureate or higher degree. Supplemental nurses were somewhat less experienced than permanent nurses, averaging fifteen years of experience in 2008 compared to eighteen years for permanent nurses. The supplemental nurse workforce was more diverse racially and ethnically and more likely to be male than the permanent nurse workforce. These data show that employing supplemental nurses could help meet the challenges of an aging nursing workforce, the projected future shortage of nurses, and an increasingly diverse US population.
在过去的三十年中，愿意在医院工作的护士短缺一直是美国面临的一个持续挑战。通过外部人员配备机构签订短期合同来雇用补充注册护士（补充护士）来填补护士人员配置中的空缺已很常见。但是，关于补充护士劳动力趋势的证据不足，无法为劳动力政策提供信息。为了解决这一问题，我们将 1984 年至 2008 年期间补充护士与固定护士的资格和特征进行了比较。这两组人在拥有学士学位或更高学历方面具有相似的教育水平。与固定护士相比，补充护士的经验稍少，2008 年平均经验为 15 年，而固定护士为 18 年。补充护士劳动力在种族和民族方面更加多样化，并且比固定护士劳动力更有可能是男性。这些数据表明，雇用补充护士可以帮助应对老龄化护理劳动力，预计未来护士短缺以及美国人口日益多样化的挑战。
