Survey: Too Few Healthcare Workers for Universal Access, Hospital CEOs Say
16 Novembro 2009 - 12:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
Despite Recession, Most Hospitals to Recruit Healthcare
Professionals SAN DIEGO, Nov. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite the
recession, most hospital executives believe there are still too few
physicians, nurses and allied healthcare professionals in the
United States, and that worker shortages will grow worse if access
to healthcare becomes universal. In a survey of 285 hospital chief
executive officers conducted by AMN Healthcare, the nation's
largest healthcare staffing company, 95 percent of hospital CEOs
said there is a shortage of physicians in the U.S., 91 percent said
there is a shortage of nurses, 86 percent said there is a shortage
of pharmacists, and 79 percent said there is a shortage of allied
healthcare professionals. Moreover, many CEOs believe there are not
enough healthcare workers in their areas to meet the increased
demand for medical services that universal access to care would
create. Seventy percent said there would not be enough doctors to
meet demand if access becomes universal, 51 percent said there
would not be enough nurses, 48 percent said there would not be
enough allied healthcare professionals and 45 percent said there
would not be enough pharmacists. "While the short-term economic
environment may have temporarily eased the ability to recruit and
retain clinical staff, the long-term dynamics of an aging
population will drive the need for thousands of more healthcare
professionals that don't exist today," notes Susan Nowakowski,
president of AMN Healthcare. "Any plan to expand access to care
would intensify an already anticipated critical shortage of
clinicians. Healthcare reform should include robust efforts to
train more doctors, nurses and other clinicians," she added. While
CEOs indicated that long-term healthcare worker shortages persist,
some said the recession has masked the overall shortage and
resulted in a temporary easing of their hospitals' recruitment of
clinical workers over the last six months. Over 24 percent of CEOs
said the economic downturn caused them to decrease nurse recruiting
efforts over the last six months, 16 percent said the downturn had
caused them to decrease allied healthcare professional recruiting
efforts, and 10 percent said the downturn had caused them to
decrease pharmacist recruiting efforts. By contrast, over 24
percent said the downturn had caused them to increase physician
recruiting efforts over the last six months. The majority (at least
64 percent) said recruiting efforts at their hospitals over the
last six months had not changed. In the next six months, most
hospital CEOs plan to maintain or even increase recruitment of
healthcare professionals, the survey suggests. Ninety-three percent
expect to maintain or increase physician recruiting efforts, 89
percent expect to maintain or increase nurse recruiting efforts, 91
percent expect to maintain or increase allied healthcare
professional recruiting efforts, and 93 percent expect to maintain
or increase pharmacist recruiting efforts. Up to 11 percent,
however, expect to decrease their efforts to recruit clinical
professionals in the next six months. Shortages of healthcare
professionals have compromised access to care in their areas, some
CEOs report. Forty-six percent said access to care in their areas
has been compromised by physician shortages, 10 percent said access
has been compromised by allied healthcare professional shortages,
eight percent said access has been compromised by nurse shortages,
and three percent said access has been compromised by pharmacists
shortages. CEOs reported an average hospital vacancy rate of 11
percent for physicians, six percent for nurses, five percent for
allied healthcare professionals and five percent for pharmacists.
AMN Healthcare's 2009 Survey of Hospital Chief Executives Officers
was conducted in partnership with The Council on Physician and
Nurses Supply, a national group of healthcare experts funded by AMN
Healthcare that is dedicated to finding solutions to the shortage
of doctors and nurses. Complete survey results are available at
http://www.amnhealthcare.com/PDF/09CEOSurvey.pdf and
http://www.physiciannursesupply.com/. About AMN Healthcare AMN
Healthcare is the largest healthcare staffing company in the United
States and the leader in all of its service lines, temporary nurse
staffing, temporary and permanent physician staffing, and temporary
and permanent allied healthcare professional staffing. About the
Council on Physician and Nurse Supply The Council on Physician and
Nurse Supply is an independent, multi-disciplinary group dedicated
to studying trends in the demand for physicians and nurses and to
proposing ways to better align training capacity with the nation's
needs. It is based at the University of Pennsylvania's Leonard
Davis Institute of Health Care Economics. Funding for the Council
is provided by AMN Healthcare, the nation's largest healthcare
staffing company, headquartered in San Diego, CA. DATASOURCE: AMN
Healthcare CONTACT: Phil Miller, +1-469-524-1420, for AMN
Healthcare Web Site: http://www.amnhealthcare.com/
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