Dive Brief:
- A new study published in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics has concluded that more experienced nurses deliver better patient care and shorter stays in the hospital.
- When experienced nurses leave, and hospitals hire new and temp nurses, productivity goes down more than is attributable to changes in nurses' skills and experience, researchers wrote.
- According to the researchers, patients get the best care when treated in units staffed by nurses with extensive experience in their current job, FierceHealthcare notes.
Dive Insight:
Hospitals are already losing nurses who are retiring, and replacing them with inexperienced nurses in many cases, a trend that can affect patient care negatively. Hospitals must also face the fact that the need for nurses is outstripping the number who are graduating, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. According to AACN research, U. S. nursing schools turned away 79,659 qualified applicants between 2012 and 2013 due to lack of capacity.
That said, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projections hold that the number of employed nurses will grow 26% between 2010 and 2020.