Dive Brief:
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With a potential nursing shortage on the horizon, Tenet Healthcare is offering experienced nurses $10,000 to $15,000 sign-on bonuses and up to $25,000 for nurses in “geographically challenged areas,” Becker’s Hospital Review reported.
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The Dallas-based health system’s recruitment drive is similar to other sign-on bonuses at UC Health and Inova Health System. Tenet has more than 75 hospitals.
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts a nursing shortage of more than 1 million nurses by 2022.
Dive Insight:
The BLS projects registered nurses will grow 15% by 2026, which is faster than other occupations. There are now more than 2.9 million registered nurses, and the BLS expects the field will add more than 400,000 more within the next eight years.
The reason for the job growth includes more emphasis on preventive care, more people with chronic conditions and greater demand as the Baby Boomer population ages.
Even so, the agency expects a shortage as demand will outweigh staffing.
Chief nursing officers also say they are having trouble recruiting nurses. Just over 40% of respondents to a new survey by AMN Healthcare, BE Smith and The Center for the Advancement of Healthcare Professionals said the problem is "significant" or "severe." More than half of those surveyed expect the shortage to get worse within five years.
In addition to a nursing shortage, the BLS projects the country will be short almost 300,000 physicians by 2022, though there’s some debate as to whether that physician shortage is being overblown. Nevertheless, combine those two shortages and you see why health systems like Tenet are looking to sweeten employment opportunities.
Of course, nursing shortages may affect hospitals’ quality, but there’s also a financial impact. Moody’s Investors Service recently warned a shortage will cut into nonprofit hospital margins for at least the next three to four years. Attracting and retaining talent could cause hospitals to offer signing bonuses and increase compensation and fringe benefits. That will increase expenses, Moody’s said.
“Labor is the largest hospital expense and is increasing faster than total expense growth while outpacing revenue growth,” Moody’s analyst Safat Hannan said in a statement at the time. “The lack of qualified nurses will compound these expense pressures and negatively affect hospital margins.”
Another worry for hospitals is that many nurses say they’re dissatisfied with their jobs. A 2017 survey by RNnetwork said almost half of nurses were thinking about leaving the profession. The most common reason for their displeasure is overwork. Other problems cited included being verbally harassed or bullied by other nurses and not making enough money. Also, more than 60% said a nursing shortage is already affecting their workload.