Baby Boom-Now Bust! How to Deal with the Nursing Shortage?

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In all probability you've heard by now, the healthcare field is suffering from a severe nurse shortage. The main causal factor is aging baby boomers, those persons born between the years 1946 through 1964. The baby boomers are comprised of 77 million+ people in the United States. It is the single largest population group ever in U.S. history. The nation will began feeling the first crush of baby boomers of retirement age soon. Beginning in 2011-with Kathleen Casey-Kirschling of Cherry Hill, N.J., who was born at one second after midnight on January 1, 1946, and, who will be the first person in the nation to turn 65-an unprecedented number of people will follow her lead into history as the largest group of retirees ever. Per the U.S. Census Bureau,¹ it is estimated that the leading edge of baby boomers are turning age [64] one every 7 seconds!^a Additionally, the end tail of baby boomers are turning age 50 at the rate of one every eighteen seconds. This explosion in the movement of population has an overall profound effect. One being the burden it will place on healthcare in the future. Consider, the nursing shortage has just begun. Doctors, nurses and medical staff are already pressed to the hilt. We as a nation, have to come up with more answers. In order to deal with the nursing shortage, society must take a look at the causes. Here are three main causal effects on the nursing shortage facing our nation;

Factor #1: The growth of a single-sector population. A record 1.8 million people will turn 65 beginning in 2011, says a report issued by North Dakota State University Agriculture Commission.² The bust the baby boomers are placing on the nursing shortage and the effect they have on society as a whole, is starkly visible in the graphical chart on pages 5, 14-15 of the U.S. Census Bureau Report, '65+ in the United States 2005'.³ The representation of data for both male and female persons by age on the asymmetrical chart, illustrates the movement in population for persons over 65 in the years: 1900, 1940, 1960, 1980 and 2000 and the projected future senior population in 2020 and 2040. The ripple effect of baby boomers will change the face of what it means to be a senior in America; and, cataclysmically the world. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the baby boomers will bring a new standard to the retirement population-being healthier, wealthier, and living longer, plus being more youthful and having higher levels of education than previous generations. This new generation of retirement age persons will set the example for all generations to come. Never, before in U.S. history has there been such an implosion of a single population's effect on all society.

Factor #2: Fewer students are choosing nursing as a career. There is a low influx of new recruits to the nursing field. Underlying reasons are disinterest, lack of workplace empowerment compared to other career fields for women, exclusivity of nursing to primarily women as seen in low enrollment by males (less than 6% of all nurses are male) and more prestige attached to alternative carer options now available to women according to Nursing Advocacy. ⁴

Factor #3: Mass retirement of aging nurses in the workforce exceeds that of new recruits. In times of war there is always mass enrollment and recruitment of doctors, nurses and medical personnel. Also, in times of war the baby population increases proportionally as well. Pre-1970's era there was mass recruitment of nurses due to World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. With the end of those wars, the graying of the nurses' population and the sustained cold war, the United States and other countries worldwide are now seeing the effects of the retirement of the glut of nurses commissioned during the 1940's to 1970's. Ironically, it is the same influx of babies born to this generation during the Pre-1970's war era, that have grown up, grown older and now will put the greatest demand on the need for more nurses.

Summary: For those who have a heart for service this is a great time to be a nurse. A career in nursing will not only provide satisfaction in helping others improve their quality of life, but the nursing shortage will provide job security and a reasonably comfortable lifestyle through this current generations' lifetime, and into the distant foreseeable future. Too, the heightened demand for nurses has been a catalyst for many scholarship programs through government, private, social and collegiate based sources. TakeJohnson and Johnson⁵ for example, they offer partial tuition toward any degree in nursing, Then look at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)^6, they offer full tuition with reasonable costs of $1931.00 annually and a monthly stipend of $1326.00 in exchange for service to chronically needy areas. Also, there's the United States' Department of Education which offers federal financial aid up to $5,500 annually via the Free Application for Federal Student Aid also known as the FAFSA⁷⁽you can apply online). They also offer the Federal Supplemental Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)⁹ which is special money reserved for the most chronically needy students (approximately $2000). FSEOG is applied automatically through the FAFSA for those eligible. Express extenuating circumstances to the financial aid office of the school chosen. Finally, all 50 state grants agencies⁸ via their state departments' of higher education offer additional funds up to another $2000. There's enough money to help with tuition, books and living costs' to make training available to all who can meet this worthy challenge. And in doing so, we can alleviate some of the great demand now facingfuture nursing and healthcare.

¹U.S. Census Bureau
² North Dakota State University Agriculture Commission
^{3 '}65+ In The United States', Report by the U.S. Census Bureau
⁴ Nursing Advocacy
⁵ Johnson & Johnson Discover Nursing Scholarships
⁶ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources Administration, Nursing Scholarship Program
⁷ Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
⁸ U.S.Department of Education, State Grant Agencies (click link and enter your state for your local agency)
⁹ U.S. Department of Education, Federal Supplemental Opportunity Grant

a Age adjusted for 2010 from report '65+ In The United States 2005'