Berliner HS and E Ginzberg. 2002. Why This Hospital Nursing Shortage is Different. Journal of the American Medical Association 288(21):2742–2744. 
The authors argue that policy responses used to address previous nursing shortages are not likely to meet the challenges of the current shortage. This article describes the quantitative dimensions of the emerging nursing shortage and discusses policy solutions currently advanced for dealing with the problem.

Buerhaus P, D Staiger, and D Auerbach. 2003. Is the Current Shortage of Hospital Nurses Ending? Health Affairs 22(5):191–198.
Findings from the Current Population Survey show that hospital RN’s employment and earnings increased sharply in 2002, with two-thirds of the increase coming from older RN and the remaining supplied by RNs born outside of the U.S.

Davis, DA and MD Napler. 2008. Strategically Addressing the Nurse Shortage: A Closer Look at the Nurse Funders Collaborative. Health Affairs 27(3): 876-881.
In 2003 the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation convened a group of foundations, government agencies and corporations in order to address issues facing nursing and health care. This paper reports on research undertaken by the collaborative to assess categorical and regional funding patterns for nursing grants.

Buerhaus P, J Needleman, S Mattke, et al. 2002. Strengthening Hospital Nursing. Health Affairs 21(5):123–32.
Findings from a growing number of studies provide evidence of a relationship between hospital nurse staffing and adverse outcomes experienced by medical and surgical patients. These findings have policy implications for strengthening the nursing profession, monitoring the quality of hospital care associated with nursing, and improving the relationship between hospitals and the nursing profession.

Goodin H. 2003. The Nursing Shortage in the United States of America: An Integrative Review of the Literature. Journalof Advanced Nursing 43(4):335–350.
The author provides a review of the literature examining the contributing factors to the current nursing shortage and proposes a number of solutions to address this shortage.

Gostin LO. 2008. The International Migration and Recruitment of Nurses. JAMA 299(15):1827-29.
This commentary focuses on the international recruitment of internationally educated nurses from the perspective of human rights and global justice.

Joynt, J and B Kimball, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Center to Champion Nursing in America. U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration. May 2008. Blowing Open the Bottleneck: Designing New Approaches to Increase Nurse Education Capacity.
This paper studies various causes of the nationwide nursing shortage, proposes various solutions and examines case studies of four programs working to increase nursing education capacity.

Kovner C, M Mezey, and C Harrington. 2002. Who Cares for Older Adults? Workforce Implications of an Aging Society. Health Affairs 21(5):78–89.
There is a critical shortage of geriatrics-prepared health care professionals. Yet 58 percent of baccalaureate nursing programs have no full-time faculty certified in geriatric nursing. The authors argue that every health care worker must have some education in geriatrics and access to geriatrics care experts.

Loquist RS. 2002. State Boards of Nursing Respond to the Nurse Shortage. Nursing Administration Quarterly 26(4):33–39.
A changing health care delivery system, coupled with nursing shortages predicted to worsen over the next 10 to 15 years, provide major challenges to policy makers and particularly to State Boards of Nursing. Emerging innovation in nursing education and nursing practice will challenge existing laws, rules, and opinions of Boards of Nursing. Maintaining dialogue among major stakeholders and working collaboratively to shape a preferred future will benefit both the profession and the public.

Lynn MR and RW Redman. 2006. Staff Nurses and Their Solutions to the Nursing Shortage. Western Journal of Nursing Research 28(6):678-693. 
Using the survey results from 787 staff nurses in eight geographically and demographically diverse states, this article discusses what nurses are saying about nursing today and their priorities for the needed changes in their work or work environments. 

May JH, GJ Bazzoli, and AM Gerland. June 2006. Hospitals’ Responses to Nurse Staffing Shortages. Health Affairs Web Exclusive 25(4):w316-w323.
This study identifies which strategies hospitals have implemented to ease the nursing shortage, and analyzes the consequences of these strategies on the cost, access to, and quality of healthcare in the U.S. in the long run.  

Mee C and E Robinson. 2003. What's Different About This Nursing Shortage? Nursing 33(1):51–55.
Driven by unprecedented social and demographic changes, this nursing shortage won't be easily fixed by solutions that worked in the past. Here's what makes this shortage unique- and how you can influence the change shaping your profession.

Needleman J, P Buerhaus, S Mattke, et al. 2002. Nurse-Staffing Levels and the Quality of Care in Hospitals. New England Journal of Medicine 346(22):1715–1722.
Using administrative data from 799 hospitals in 11 states, this study examines whether lower levels of staffing by nurses at hospitals are associated with an increased risk that patients will have complications or die. The authors found that a higher proportion of nursing care provided by RNs and a greater number of hours of care by RNs per day are associated with better outcomes for hospitalized patients.

Needleman J, PI Buerhaus, M Stewart, et al. 2006. Nurse Staffing in Hospitals: Is There a Business Case for Quality. Health Affairs 25(1):204-11.
This article provides data to help hospitals and policymakers consider both the business and social cases for investing in nurse staffing by estimating costs of increasing staffing and cost savings resulting from avoided deaths, reduce lengths-of-stay, and decreased adverse patient outcomes associated with higher nurse staffing levels.

Potempa K. 2002. Finding the Courage to Lead: The Oregon Experience. Nursing Administration Quarterly 26(4):9–15.
A severe nursing shortage has the profession in crisis. The national picture is paralleled in Oregon. The Oregon Nursing Leadership Council (ONLC), through intense dialogue, developed a comprehensive statewide plan to resolve the shortage. From the perspective of group relations and leadership theories, this article describes the issues and events that contributed to the remarkable journey that culminated in this plan. Motivated by our concern for the public welfare and the survival of our profession, individual ONLC members surrendered their own narrow organizational goals to achieve a more effective collective outcome.

Rivers PA, KL Tsai, and G Munchus. Spring 2005. The Financial Impacts of the Nursing Shortage. Journal of Health Care Finance 31(3):52-64.
This article examines the multiple factors leading to the nursing shortage and the financial impact of the shortage on hospitals and healthcare providers, the government, society, and educational institutions.  Finally, it also discusses possible solutions to the nursing shortage. 

Rogers A, W Hwang, L Scott, et al. July/August 2004. The Working Hours of Hospital Staff Nurses and Patient Safety. Health Affairs 23(4):203–212.
The authors examined the prevalence of nurses’ extended work periods and their effects on patient care by reviewing logbooks completed by 393 hospital staff nurses.

Smith AP. 2002. Responses to the Nursing Shortage: Policy, Press, Pipeline, and Perks. Nursing Economics 20(6):287–90.
The author describes and assesses various public, non-profit, and private sector programs and policy activities implemented in response to the nursing shortage in the U.S.

Sochalski J. 2002. Nursing Shortage Redux: Turning the Corner on an Enduring Problem. Health Affairs 21(5):157–164.
Projections of a substantial nursing workforce imbalance in the coming decade have galvanized policymakers, providers, private foundations, nurses, and others to proffer aggressive and sustainable strategies to ameliorate the looming shortage. The solutions are largely ones that seek to increase supply. Analysis of the 1992-2000 National Sample Surveys of Registered Nurses shows that increasing losses from the active workforce, stagnant wages, and low levels of job satisfaction pose major impediments to bolstering supply. Strategies focused on working conditions and retention should occupy a central position in any nursing workforce revitalization plan.

Spetz J and R Given. 2003. The Future of the Nurse Shortage: Will Wage Increases Close the Gap? Health Affairs 22(5):199–206.
The authors' developed a model to estimate how high RN wages would need to rise to end the RN shortage. They concluded that inflation-adjusted wages must increase 3.2-3.8 percent per year between 2002 and 2016 with wages cumulatively rising up to 69 percent to end the shortage.

Spetz J and S Adams. 2006. How Can Employment-Based Benefits Help the Nurse Shortage? Health Affairs 25(1):212-18.
This paper provides data on the availability of benefits to RNs, reports on how health care leaders are approaching the provision of employment-based benefits for nurses, and considers what nurses have to say in focus groups about benefits.

Steinbrook R. 2002. Nursing in the Crossfire. New England Journal of Medicine 346(22):1757–1766.
The author critically examines past and present nursing shortages in the U.S. and discusses potential solutions to the shortage, as well as other key issues facing the nursing profession.

Ulrich BT, R Lavandero, KA Hart, et al. October 2006. Critical Care Nurses’ Work Environments: A Baseline Status Report. Critical Care Nurse 26(5):46-57.
This article presents the major results of a survey conducted by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses in which nurses were asked about their satisfaction with nursing as a career, their intent to stay in or leave their current positions, reasons for planning to stay or leave, and what might cause them to reconsider leaving. 


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