Help wanted: nurses, nurses, nurses!

Want ads with a desperate tone are filling classified advertising sections of newspapers throughout Texas. The state's shortage of nurses is there for all to see, spelled out in big, bold type. "Take a new direction." "Built for the future. Designed for your career.... Take your career into the next century." Hospitals lure nurses with a choice of working hours, subsidized transportation, tuition reimbursement, educational programs, bonus programs, relocation assistance, temporary housing, and more. Still, the problem persists. In the worst case scenario, it has reached crisis proportions. In May 1988, in a highly publicized move prompted by the shortage, one Texas hospital was turning away ambulance-borne patients from its emergency room and came to the brink of losing Medicare and Medicaid funding. The Texas Legislature's Special Committee on Post-Secondary Medical, Dental, and Allied Health Education has documented the administrator's problem. According to the committee's report, issued in December 1988, "There is one Texas registered nurse for every 418 people in the general population; the national average is one RN for every 200 people." Physicians, nurses, and hospital administrators are vitally concerned with the situation's serious implications for the quality of patient care, and all three groups are searching for solutions. The following article explores the history, causes, and proposed solutions for the problem.