National Survey Cites Slowdown in Number of Registered Nurses Entering Profession

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National Survey Cites Slowdown in Number of Registered Nurses Entering Profession

Preliminary findings from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s 2000 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses released today suggest more action is needed to keep the nation supplied with registered nurses.

The survey, the most extensive and comprehensive source of statistics on registered nurses with current licenses to practice in the United States, found that the nation’s RNs continue to grow older and the rate of nurses entering the profession has slowed over the past four years.

Comparisons of data from the 1980 and 2000 surveys show a significant shift in the age of the RN population. In 1980, 52.9 percent of RNs were under the age of 40, but by 2000, only 31.7 percent were under 40.

In addition, the U.S. population increased 13.7 percent between 1990 and 2000. At the same time, the rate of nurses entering the workforce was just 4.1 percent between 1996 and 2000, down from 14.2 percent growth between 1992 and 1996.

“The fact is we’re not attracting enough new nurses or maintaining the current nurse workforce at a level to keep pace with the growth in demand,” said HRSA Administrator Claude Earl Fox, M.D., M.P.H.

The survey, conducted every four years by HRSA’s Bureau of Health Professions, also found:

	there are an estimated 2,696,540 active, licensed RNs in the United States, an increase of only 137,666 nurses from 1996;
	81.7 percent or 2,201,813 of active licensed RNs are employed in nursing;
	12.3 percent or 333,368 of all RNs reported being from one or more racial or ethnic minority backgrounds;
	5.9 percent of RNs employed in nursing are men, up from 5.4 percent in 1996; and
	the number of nurses working in hospitals increased slightly from 1,270,870 in 1996 to 1,300,323 in 2000.

“One way to increase the nursing supply is to attract greater numbers of minority students into nursing education programs,” said Sam S. Shekar, M.D., M.P.H., HRSA’s associate administrator for Health Professions.

HRSA is the lead HHS agency for improving access to health care for individuals and families nationwide. HRSA’s Bureau of Health Professions supports education of health care providers who provide cost-saving primary care services to medically underserved people.

For a copy of the complete report (in .pdf format – requiring Acrobat software) visit the Bureau of Health Professionals web site at ftp://158.72.84.9/ftp/bhpr/nursing/sampsurvpre.pdf .