No Quick Fix: Skilled Nurses in Short Supply

No Quick Fix: When Burbank, California-based staffing firm Workway last week announced a subsidiary to provide trained nurses, it underscored a growing crisis that cuts across the health care sector. Few professions face a greater talent shortage than nursing. Workway Nursing will target hospitals and other long-term care facilities by providing skilled clinical professionals, including licensed practical and vocational nurses, certified nurse assistants and allied medical staff.

Workway’s new venture illustrates the continuing momentum to address the dwindling number of people entering the profession. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, although the number of students enrolling in nursing curricula jumped nearly 8 percent in 2006, it still isn’t enough to meet projected demand for new nurses. And Bernard Hodes Group says in its 2007 aging workforce survey that nearly 60 percent of health care organizations expect to lose the greatest number of people to retirement between 2013 and 2018.