NIFA

I would like to comment on a recent social media post which generated considerable discussion among nurses. The post featured a list of the range of salaries for tradesmen such as plumbers and electricians and made a comparison to nursing compensation. The consensus from many of the nurses that responded was that nurses were undervalued in comparison to these workers.

This article starts with data provided by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) in their Nursing Workforce Fact Sheet.1 The AACN updates this fact sheet periodically and there is much good news in the current, concise bullet points. In example, the outlook for nursing employment remains solid with projections of over 200,000 new RN positions to be created each year to the year 2031. The average salary for American RNs is nearly $78,000. We are also told that, as of 2022, 71.7% of the RN workforce holds a baccalaureate or higher degree as their highest level of education.1

This month I would like to return to a familiar topic – nursing workforce issues. This article stems from the release of a report from the World Health Organization – State of the World’s Nursing 2025: Investing in Education, Jobs, leadership and Service Delivery.(1) This report speaks to the whole international nursing workforce and its distribution. This report is informative regarding the interconnected nature of the global workforce.

A recent conversation with a colleague at NIFA prompted me to explore the topic of the consistency of perioperative nursing care. This nurse works as a surgical assistant and participates in a high volume of cases with a diverse selection of perioperative nurses and his opinion carries weight. This made me consider this issue from the quality improvement lens. My thoughts turned to a straightforward question – How do we assess the quality of perioperative nursing care?

At the end of World War II, diploma programs were the most common pre-licensure education programs; the schools were closely linked to the hospitals which administered the programs. At its peak, Toledo Ohio had eight diploma schools and each was affiliated with a hospital in the city. These programs placed an emphasis on developing clinical skills and much of the coursework was delivered on the hospital campus. 

Some perioperative professional work into their late 60s and even their 70s. For these nurses the end of their work years is drawing near, and they may be scaling back their paid work activity. They could assess how fulfilling their career and life have been, take stock of their accomplishments and hopefully reach a stage of acceptance.