Hundred Power

Here is an eye-opening forecast by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation:

“The nursing shortage in the United States is intensifying: it is expected to triple over the next 13 years, leaving a shortfall of 340,000 nurses in 2020.”

For the U.S. to get itself back to “even” or “normal”, an EXTRA 34,000 nurses would have to graduate and get licensed each year. Somewhere there’s another forecast that said 1.5 Million nurses would be leaving the workforce in the next ten years and that only 1 Million new nurses would be trained. In that scenario, there is an urgent need for an EXTRA 50,000 nurses each year.

Today, the media is reporting on trillion dollar proposals for bank bailouts, fiscal stimulus, and throwing borrowed money at the American people via tax “rebates.” Wouldn’t you feel better to have a list of specific, concrete goals for worthwhile, valuable projects in front of you?

The politicians’ catchphrase is “shovel-ready.” By that, the idea is to jumpstart the “economy” by funding only projects like roads that can be started the next day (or month). “Shovel-ready” is some kind of red herring requirement. It just takes our focus off the big picture. Who says that the U.S. shouldn’t try to catch up? And catching up can also take a few years.

Back to the shortage of nurses . . . a dramatic push to save the medical system would seem to be a very popular, visible, and valuable program. The existing nursing schools report turning away qualified applicants simply due to lack of space. There are plenty of American men and women want nursing as a career. But lack of teaching staff and facilities and money is the cause of the crisis. And, the crisis is going to worsen each year.

This is a completely understandable situation. Perhaps the whole world has heard of the baby boom . . . except the U.S. Congress. The baby boom has been common knowledge for years so the nursing shortage is no surprise. First, the baby boomers expanded the number of nurses. Second, the baby boomer generation is a big generation, and they’re retiring. Third, these retired boomers themselves will create their own huge demand for medical care.

This week, Barack Obama is sworn in as president. In 1960, John Kennedy was sworn in as president. Both are known for their eloquence. John Kennedy stated his goal to put an American on the moon within ten years. I’d like to hear Barack Obama set a goal to train an extra (that’s extra) 340,000 nurses within ten years.