Facilities are offering gift cards, lavish prizes and even trivia contests hosted by celebrities just to get registered nurses in the door, according to the report. Organizations are finding that such drastic efforts to get nurses to consider coming to an organization are necessary as facilities find themselves facing the ongoing challenge of a lack of available nurses.
Despite significant job cuts facing most industries, there is an ever-growing need for nurses. The number of new nursing jobs that will open annually through 2016 will surpass the number of nurses who pass the registered nurse licensing exam, and many nurses do not remain in the profession, according the AP report citing U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Read the AP report on the national nursing shortage.
