Question

How is equity in pay causing shortage of nurses in our health care system? what solutions can be implemented to fix this problem ?

Answer 1

Concerns about a nurse shortage did not lead to higher wages. • Over the late 1990s and into 2000, nurses’ pay did not increase at all, although some hospitals had already begun worrying about a nurse shortage in 1997. • When wages fi nally began to rise, nurses responded promptly—hospitals added 186,500 nurses between 2001 and 2003. • Instead of competing for nurses by increasing pay, hospitals often turn to a combination of overworking (through mandatory overtime), contingent workers, understaffi ng, and one-time hiring bonuses to meet staffi ng needs. Inadequate staffi ng undermines patient care. • The quality of patient care suffers when cost-cutting staffi ng practices reduce nurse/patient ratios. Most analyses of the nurse workforce overlook the critical link between pay and nurse supply. • Of 49 recent analyses of the nurse workforce, only 11 proposed increasing wages in order to attract more nurses. • However, a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Offi ce cited “inadequate staffi ng, heavy workloads, the increased use of overtime, a lack of suffi cient support staff, and the adequacy of wages” as key factors in the emerging nurse shortage. • The link between wages and the number of workers seeking jobs—which most economists view as the key driver in labor markets—is too often overlooked when it comes to nurses. Unions raise nurses’ pay and improve staffi ng ratios. • Nurses who are union members enjoy a 13 percent wage boost. • Nurses’ wages are higher in cities with a stronger union presence—for both union members and nurses who are not in unions. • Nurse/patient ratios are 18 percent higher in the most unionized cities as compared to cities with the lowest levels of nurse unionization.