Career Advice & News Center

The growing shortage of nurses in the healthcare field has been a unique subplot to the recession over the past two years. While millions of Americans are still looking for work, some estimates expect the shortfall of nurses in the U.S. to exceed 250,000 by 2025.

According to a recent industry survey conducted by the healthcare management company AMN Healthcare, the shortage may soon be exacerbated by a growing number of current nurses electing to leave their job.

The 2010 Survey of Registered Nurses: Job Satisfaction and Career Plans indicated that nearly one-third of registered nurses polled in January said they plan to leave their current job within the year and nearly half reported plans to assume a new career path in the next one to three years.

The 50 percent of respondents looking for a career change expressed a desire to leave the nursing field entirely or working for fewer hours in a less demanding role, and another half said that their job was affecting their health.

"Our survey clearly indicates significant job dissatisfaction and that is concerning in terms of quality healthcare delivery," said ANM's president Ralph Henderson.

He added, "Nurses are at the core of quality care in our nation's delivery system and if we see large numbers of them leaving the profession, it could negatively impact patient care outcomes."

As the shortage persists, only 6 percent of those surveyed thought that healthcare reform would provide a solution to the scarcity of registered nurses.

While nontraditional training techniques are one alternative for reeling in new nurses, Claire Zangerle, chief executive of the Visiting Nurse Association of Ohio told CNN that nursing students need to be encouraged to enter the field through higher wages.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wages of registered nurses were $62,450 in May 2008.