WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) Nov 15 - Mired in an existing nursing shortage, the US healthcare system must develop strategies to prevent a potentially far greater shortage in another decade, a new report by the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) proclaims.

"If we do not begin to address these issues at their root causes, then the nursing profession will continue toward a shortage of unmatched proportions," according to Dr. Lois L. Kercher, AONE president.

Unlike the current nursing shortage, which is largely concentrated in such specialty care units as intensive care units, the future shortage will be driven by "nurses aging and retiring faster than we can bring new ones into the profession," AONE Executive Director Pamela Thompson told Reuters Health.

The average age of working registered nurses in 1998 was 41.9 years, a 4.5-year increase from 1983. The population of registered nurses is aging more than twice as fast as workers in all other occupations in the US economy. The percent of working RNs younger than age 30 dropped from 30% of the total workforce in 1983 to 12% in 1998.

A primary reason for the anticipated shortage is that there are far more opportunities for women today than there were 20 and 30 years ago, Thompson explained. Women graduating from high school in the 1990s are 35% less likely to become RNs compared with women in the 1970s.

"Access to and the quality of health care will be at risk for not only the growing population of older citizens, but also for those under 65 years of age," the report said.

The report, "Perspectives on the Nursing Shortage: A Blueprint for Action," offers a host of recommendations to expand the nursing workforce: creating better work environments; lobbying for more state and federal support of nursing education programs; partnering with employers to provide clinical training and tuition assistance; establishing partnerships between educators, employers and regulatory bodies to monitor and react to changing demands for nursing services; improving data collection efforts to measure care quality; and improving the use of technology to increase nurses' efficiency.    

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