Nursing Wages Essay Example
Nursing Wages Essay Example

Nursing Wages Essay Example

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  • Pages: 4 (834 words)
  • Published: October 22, 2017
  • Type: Analysis
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Currently, there is a shortage of nurses across North Carolina and the United States. Several states have implemented measures to address the issue through legislation and incentives. One viable solution is to increase salaries and provide additional federal funding to hospitals and healthcare facilities to support wage payments. In North Carolina, as in most markets, salaries are influenced by the principle of supply and demand. For instance, when demand for a particular job role is high, wage rates tend to rise in order to attract more individuals into that profession.

Interestingly, nurses have not experienced the same wage increases as other professions. A report titled "Solving the Nursing Shortage through Higher Wages" found that:

  • During the late 1990s and early 2000s, nurses' salaries did not increase despite concerns about a potential nursing shortage in 1997.
  • When wages finally rose, hospitals quickly
    ...

    added 186,500 nurses between 2001 and 2003.

  • Hospitals often resort to mandatory overtime, contingent workers, understaffing, and one-time hiring bonuses instead of increasing pay to attract more nurses.
  • This situation highlights the tradeoffs people face.

    According to an article by Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld, and Toll (2008), nursing is a strenuous profession which may lead people to opt for alternative careers offering comparable wages, such as teaching. However, in order to entice individuals back into nursing, salaries need to exceed those of less demanding industries. This trade-off between hard work and higher pay incentivizes a move back towards nursing. The article notes that some hospitals in several cities, including Albany, Chicago, Memphis, and San Antonio, faced allegations of colluding to artificially depress wages for nurses in 2006. The hospitals were reportedly attempting to cut costs by agreeing i

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secret not to pay nurses more than a certain amount.

Nurses had no option but to accept low wages from hospitals they worked for due to their refusal to compete with each other. The shortage of nurses did not change this behavior. The heart of the issue lies in nurse loyalty, as the longer nurses work in a hospital, the less likely they are to look for better wages elsewhere. This undermines market forces. Lovell (2006) compiled a list of best and worst cities based on nursing wages, but the recommendations from this research report remain applicable regardless of state.

The nursing shortage can be solved by increasing wages, and the government may need to intervene to achieve this. A report titled "Active and Inactive Workers on the North Carolina Nurse Aide I Registry: A Wage and Employment Profile" reveals that North Carolina is taking various measures to address the nursing shortage. To significantly improve the job quality and career opportunities of workers in this field, national, state, and local workforce initiatives are needed. Notably, the Real Choice Systems Change Grant Initiative (2001-2005), Better Jobs, Better Care Demonstration Grant Initiative, and WIN A STEP UP program (Workforce Improvement for Nursing Assistants: Supporting Training, Education, and Payment for Upgrading Performance) are examples of such efforts that may directly impact the North Carolina direct care workforce at both the individual LTC organization level and the state infrastructure level.

North Carolina created a statewide association for direct care workers and established the new Medication Aide job category through the Real Choice Systems Change Grant from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The Geriatric Aide Specialist job category

is still in development. The state also developed the North Carolina New Organizational Vision Award (NC NOVA) through a Better Jobs, Better Care demonstration grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Atlantic Philanthropies. This voluntary special licensure program is designed for home care agencies, nursing facilities, and adult care homes to create and sustain a supportive workplace environment.

The WIN A STEP UP program, aimed at improving job quality, stability, and performance of nursing assistants, was made available to skilled nursing facilities statewide in January 2007 through a collaborative effort between the NC Department of Health and Human Services and the UNC Institute on Aging. Training, education, and rewards are provided through this workforce improvement program. According to Konrad, Morgan, and Ribas (2007), it is beneficial to ensure nursing assistants are paid reasonably well to prevent nursing shortages from impacting patient care.

The Institute for Women's Policy Research published a report titled "Solving the Nursing Shortage through Higher Wages" in 2006, authored by Lovell, V. The report can be accessed at http://www.iwpr. As of August 23, 2008.

Link to Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld, and Toll's report on Nurse Wages (2008) in PDF format can be accessed at http://www.cmht.org/pdf/C363.pdf. The report was retrieved on August 23, 2008.

On the webpage com/cases_nursewages.php there is an article titled "Active and Inactive Workers on the North Carolina Nurse Aide I Registry: A Wage and Employment Profile" written by Konrad, T., Morgan, J., and Ribas, V. The article was published in April 2007 and is available on the website.

On August 23, 2008, the information was obtained from http://www.dhhs.state.

The contents at nc.us/olts/what/DOLREPORT_042607fnl.pdf are located within the of a paragraph element.

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