The graph below describes a unique condition in which we find ourselves, what are we to do in caring for an aging population. Mike Mandel of BusinessWeek pointed out in the fall of 2006 and followed up again with a piece in the summer of 2007 that health care is a growing labor sector, accounting for over 56% of labor growth from 2000 through 2006.
If the health care labor sector is so robust, what is to be made of such a large gap in nursing? Ask any hospital administrator and right up there with indigent patient care is the constant lack of nurses willing to work in nursing.
It’s amazing to see this kind of evidence and not hear of the daily issues that must happen to those who continue to work in hospitals, and are forced to deal with on a daily basis.
There is plenty more behind this graph which I’ll be presenting over the following weeks and months. But first I need to hear from you. Is this a problem or is it not? What are the consequences and how are institutions trying to cope? What tactics or studies have you seen or done. Let us know.
