Hospital administrators are a busy bunch, and they’re the first to agree that our country is suffering from a severe shortage of healthcare staffing talent. A new survey finds that 86% are currently recruiting physicians and 89% are recruiting nurses.
It is the rare hospital administrator who finds physician recruiting “not particularly difficult or challenging,” as a limited 5.6% bragged. The vast majority — 93% — think physician recruiting is either “extremely difficult and challenging,” or “somewhat difficult and challenging.”
And the great search for nurses is not much easier for these hospital administrators.
Nurse recruiting was rated as either “extremely difficult and challenging” or “somewhat difficult and challenging” by 85.7%, compared to the 13% who think it’s “not particularly difficult or challenging.”
Just what type of nurse are these administrators searching for? Baccalaureate (BSN) training is the preferred choice, at 53%, but 11% are searching for nurses with just two-year associate degrees. Over 35% indicated they had no preference either way.
In fact, one CEO anonymously wrote in that at his hospital, “We hire every nurse who submits an application. The problem is very serious and I do not see it improving.”
Over 96% of administrators agreed that “the United States has too few nurses,” while 82% of administrators agreed that “the United States has too few physicians.”
AMN Healthcare, Inc., a temporary healthcare staffing company and a nationwide provider of travel nurse staffing services, conducted the 2007 National Physician and Nurse Supply Survey, on behalf of the Council on Physician and Nurse Supply.
The survey was mailed in February 2007 to 5,000 hospital administrators located in all 50 states.
The survey includes results from the 402 completed surveys that were received by the response date of March 7.