Putting Nurses to Work in the Economic Recovery Package Option for Consideration

Abstract

At a time when millions of Americans are unemployed, there are well over 200,000 good paying nursing jobs in our hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, community health centers, and public health departments going unfilled largely because our nursing schools lack the faculty and other capacity to educate enough students. In 2006, some 88,000 qualified applicants were turned away from nursing schools. A modest, well-targeted investment in capacity expansion at our nursing schools would pave the way to fill many thousands of these job openings within the next 2-3 years and provide a crucial part of the health care workforce infrastructure necessary for successful health care reform. The nurses produced through this investment are the chronic care/prevention managers, care coordinators, and nurse educators of tomorrow.