America 's nursing shortage has been compared to a perfect storm gathering in intensity. In just over a decade nearly 80 million baby boomers will be in or reaching retirement, their medical needs placing an immense strain on our health care system. Nurses themselves, whose average age now is 47, will also be retiring and a younger generation of nurses will not be trained in enough numbers to fill the growing needs of hospitals and patients. In "Nursing a Shortage: Inside Out," special correspondent Rachel Gotbaum reports on how the shortage has come about and why it matters for nurses, hospitals and patients alike. She takes us into hospitals where the longest running nursing shortage in history is already having an impact on quality of care. She reports on the roots of the problem, encompassing not just changing career choices for young women and outdated images of nursing but also the serious difficulties faced by nursing schools trying to find nurse-educators. In this program nurses explain the effect of the shortage on patient care and how it is influencing their commitment to remain in the profession. Hospital administrators describe what they need to do to recruit and retain nurses in this increasingly competitive labor market, and Gotbaum reports on the growing tensions over whether mandating nurse-patient ratios is an answer to the problem, or a further impediment. The full 58-minute documentary is available in segments or as a single audio file. See the rundown for details. For more information about this and other Inside Out Documentaries, please contact Namita Raina, National Program Administrator, WBUR Boston. (617) 353-8160 nraina@bu.edu Hide full description

America 's nursing shortage has been compared to a perfect storm gathering in intensity. In just over a decade nearly 80 million baby boomers will be in or reaching retirement, their medical needs placing an immense strain on our health care system. Nurses themselves, whose average age now is 47, will also be retiring and a younger generation of nurses will not be trained in enough numbers to fill the growing needs of hospitals and patients. In "Nursing a Shortage: Inside Out," special correspondent Rachel Gotbaum reports on how the shortage has come about and why it matters for nurses, hospitals and patients alike. She takes u...
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