Newswise — For many years, key national data on the registered nurse (RN) workforce has only been made available yearly, and was often a year out of date when it was released.
That has now changed. Quarterly data on trends in employment-related and certain demographic characteristics of RNs is now available at healthworkforcestudies.com.
The newly-available data is an initiative of Vanderbilt University’s Center for Interdisciplinary Health Workforce Studies. The data originates from the Current Population Survey (CPS) conducted monthly by the federal government. Peter Buerhaus, Ph.D., R.N., Valere Potter Professor of Nursing and Professor, Department of Health Policy, said that the Center previously collected the CPS data on a yearly basis. However, the Center found that combining monthly data into three-month intervals provides useful quarterly estimates of changes in the RN workforce.
“We are now able to provide employment data and other information about what has happened to the nursing workforce in just the past few months rather than on ‘what happened last year,’” Buerhaus said. “We’re excited to be able to provide this information for the health workforce community, employers and government entities to better inform their decision making and strategic planning. It will be very useful to have more current information on RNs given all the changes that are occurring in the nation’s rapidly evolving health care delivery system.”
For example, the Center reports that changes in net employment of RNs in hospital settings over the past 39 quarters has increased by 492,000 full-time employees (28 percent), with most of that growth occurring in two waves: the first during the great recession in 2007 and 2008, and the second during the past five quarters. “We’re seeing recent employment momentum and will watch this trend closely in 2015,” Buerhaus said.
About the Vanderbilt University Center for Interdisciplinary Health Workforce Studies: The Center is a unique collaborative undertaking by the Vanderbilt University Schools of Nursing and Medicine, under the auspices of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for the Medical Center and Associate Vice Chancellor for Research. The Center is one of a number of centers and programs under the Vanderbilt Institute for Medicine and Public Health. The Center is funded in part by the generosity of The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and their commitment to excellence in the nursing workforce.
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