Retirement News : Seniors : Nursing Turnover Impacts Nursing Homes

Nursing Turnover Impacts Nursing Homes

Date Added: 23-09-2005

An expected shortage of Registered Nurses could cause problems for long-term care residents.

Read the excerpt below.

Dunn Daily Record - Dunn,NC,USA

With more than 12 million Americans receiving residential long-term care services each year, recently released North Carolina industry data and demographic trends are a source of concern. A report by the North Carolina Center for Nursing examined turnover rates among Registered Nurses (RNs), Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) and nurse aides in our healthcare system and found that the long-term care industry in our state faces the costly problem of high nurse turnover rates.

Based on a 2004 survey of nurse employers, the study found that the highest rates of turnover and related spending are found in long-term care facilities like nursing homes, when compared to home health agencies, public health departments, or hospitals.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the increased longevity of the baby boom generation will cause a substantial increase in the size of the elderly population in the coming decades. In the next 25 years the number of U.S. adults age 65 and older is expected to double, from about 36 million now to 71.5 million according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. There are approximately 1 million North Carolinians age 65 or older right now. That number is expected to be slightly more than 2.1 million by 2030, according to the State Data Center.

Because the elderly have both greater and different health care needs, this change is expected to increase the need for health care overall and impact long-term care settings especially hard.

Read the entire article:

http://www.dunndailyrecord.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=70686&TM=32281.77