BACKGROUND:Registered nursing is a core profession staffing psychiatric hospitals. However, strategic planning to address a critical national workforce shortage of registered nurses has not included psychiatric registered nurses. The lack of information thwarts policy decisions to adequately staff registered nurses for safe and effective psychiatric inpatient environments.OBJECTIVE:This study describes and compares demographic, educational, and employment characteristics of hospital-based psychiatric nurses with nonpsychiatric nurses at the national level. It is hypothesized that significant differences between psychiatric and nonpsychiatric nurses exist, requiring special planning for recruitment and retention of psychiatric registered nurses.DESIGN:A weighted sample of 1,113,277 hospital-based registered nurses was identified from the 2000 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses. Of these, 33,891 hospital-based psychiatric nurses were identified.RESULTS:Hospital-based psychiatric nurses are older, with a significantly lower proportion of younger entrants into the field. They are more diverse in race, education, gender, and marital status than nonpsychiatric nurses. Psychiatric nurses are also more likely than nonpsychiatric nurses to have an associate degree in nursing with a previous bachelor’s degree in another field. They have a higher rate of job turnover than nonpsychiatric nurses and have a slightly lower gross annual salary.CONCLUSION:Evidence suggests that psychiatric nurses will age out of the workforce faster than nonpsychiatric nurses. It is imperative that resources for the recruitment and retention of registered nurses be directed toward the psychiatric nurse workforce.
Aiken, L. H. (2002). Superior outcomes for magnet hospitals: The evidence base. In M. L. McClure & A. S. Hinshaw (Eds.), Magnet hospitals revisited: Attraction and retention of professional nurses (pp. 61-81). Washington, DC: American Nurses Publishing.
2.
Aiken, L.H., Clarke, S.P., Sloane, D.M., Sochalski, J., & Silber, J.H. (2002). Hospital nurse staffing and patient mortality, nurse burnout, and job dissatisfaction. Journal of the American Medical Association, 288, 1987-1993.
3.
Aiken, L. H., & Sloane, D. M. (1997). Effects of organizational innovations in AIDS care on burnout among urban hospital nurses. Work and Occupations, 24, 453-477.
4.
American Nurses Credentialing Center. (2003). American Nurses Credentialing Center annual report. Washington, DC: Author.
5.
Blegen, M. A., Vaughn, T., & Goode, C. J. (2001). Nurse experience and education: Effect on quality of care. Journal of Nursing Administration, 31(1), 33-39.
6.
Cho, S., Ketefian, S., Barkauskas, V. H., & Smith, D. G. (2003). The effects of nurse staffing on adverse events, morbidity, mortality and medical costs. Nursing Research, 52, 71-79.
7.
Clarke, S. P., & Aiken, L. H. (2003). Failure to rescue: Needless deaths are prime examples of the need for more nurses at the bedside. American Journal of Nursing, 103(1), 42-47.
8.
Cooper, R., Laud, P., & Dietrich, C. (1998). Current and projected workforce of nonphysician clinicians. Journal of the American Medical Association, 280, 788-794.
9.
Hanrahan, N.P., Stuart, G.W., Brown, P., Johnson, M., Drucker, C.B., & Delaney, K. (2003). The psychiatric nursing workforce: Large numbers, little data. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, 9, 1-4.
10.
Jamison, M. (1998). Chronic illness management in the year 2005. Nursing Economics, 16, 246-253.
11.
Manderscheid, R. (2004). Published and unpublished inventory data from the Survey and Analysis Branch, Division of State and Community Systems Development, Center for Mental Health Services. Washington, DC: Center for Mental Health Services, a division of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the Department of Health and Human Services.
12.
Mark, B. A., Salyer, J., & Wan, T. T. H. (2003). Professional nursing practice: Impact on organizational and patient outcomes. Journal of Nursing Administration, 33, 224-234.
13.
Merwin, E., & Fox, J. (1992). Cost-effective integration of mental health professions. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 13, 139-148.
14.
National Association of State Mental Health Directors. (2004). State mental health agency profiling system: 2002. Retrieved May 25, 2004, from http://www.nri-inc.org/Profiles.cfm
15.
Needleman, J., Buerhaus, P., Mattke, S., Stewart, M., & Zelevinsky, K. (2002). Nurse-staffing levels and the quality of care in hospitals. New England Journal of Medicine, 346, 1715-1722.
16.
O’Brien-Pallas, L., Duffield, C., & Alksnis, C. (2004). Who will be there to nurse? Retention of nurses nearing retirement. Journal of Nursing Administration, 34, 298-302.
17.
Peterson, B., West, J., Tanielian, T., Pincus, H., Kohout, J., Pion, G., Wicherski, M., et al. (1998). Mental health practitioners and trainees. In R. Manderscheid & M. Henderson (Eds.), Mental health, United States, 1998 (DHHS Publication No. [SMA] 99-3285, pp. 214-246). Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
18.
President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. (2003). Achieving the promise: Transforming mental health care in America. Washington, DC: Author.
19.
Scheffler, R., Ivey, S., & Garrett, A. B. (1998). Changing supply and earning patterns of the mental health workforce. Administration and Policy in Mental Health, 26, 85-99.
20.
Spratley, E., Johnson, A., Sochalski, J., Fritz, M., & Spencer, W. (2001). The registered nurse population March 2000: Findings from the national sample survey of registered nurses. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
