Kalisch B J, Kalisch P A, Clinton J
Med Care. 1981 Sep;19(9):938-50. doi: 10.1097/00005650-198109000-00006.
Using data from national newspaper clipping services, this article analyzes characteristics of 1978 news coverage of the nation's nurse shortage. Based on a content analysis of nearly 3,000 newspaper articles, findings revealed that 14 per cent of the articles mentioned problems of nurse supply. Articles on nurse shortage were most frequent in the Pacific, Mid-Atlantic and South-Atlantic states and occurred least in the West-North Central and East-South Central states. Articles mentioning nurse shortage were more frequently placed on page 1, associated with clinical nursing in hospital settings and explained as the result of maldistribution of nurses, poor salaries, deficient working conditions and lack of job satisfaction. The reading public was confronted with three major consequences of current and continued shortages in nursing: 1) decline in the availability and diversity of health services; 2) erosion in the quality of care offered the public and jeopardized patient welfare; and 3) escalating health care costs. Solutions to the nurse shortage appear to be closely tied to further expansion of the issue among the public, the initiation of remedial governmental action and timely relocation of scarce resources within the health care industry.
本文利用全国报纸剪报服务的数据，分析了1978年全国护士短缺新闻报道的特点。基于对近3000篇报纸文章的内容分析，研究结果显示，14%的文章提到了护士供应问题。关于护士短缺的文章在太平洋地区、大西洋中部和南大西洋各州最为常见，而在西北中部和东南中部各州出现的频率最低。提及护士短缺的文章更频繁地出现在头版，与医院环境中的临床护理相关，并被解释为护士分布不均、薪资低、工作条件差和缺乏工作满意度的结果。阅读公众面临着当前及持续的护理短缺带来的三大后果：1）卫生服务的可及性和多样性下降；2）提供给公众的护理质量受到侵蚀，患者福利受到损害；3）医疗保健成本不断攀升。解决护士短缺问题的办法似乎与在公众中进一步扩大这一问题、政府采取补救行动以及及时在医疗行业内重新分配稀缺资源密切相关。
