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American Morning

Survey: Labor Issues May Worsen Nurse Shortage

Aired April 20, 2001 - 09:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A shortage of nurses may turn out to be worse than first expected. That is according to a new survey that is out there.

CNN's Amy Castelli has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LESLIE REMINGTON, REGISTERED NURSE: Things are so overwhelming that sometimes nurses leave work in tears.

AMY CASTELLI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These two Kansas City nurses vouched for the Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals study, which shows one in five expects to leave their job in the next five years.

SANDRA FELDMAN, FEDERATION OF NURSES AND HEALTH PROFESSIONALS: We are talking here about a large group of nurses who are presently working, who are miserable, and expect to quit very soon.

CASTELLI: Miserable, say nurses, because of stress, irregular hours, and low staffing levels in a physically demanding job.

JULIE BAXTER-GINTHER, REGISTERED NURSE: The nurse-to-patient ratio is a crisis right now.

REMINGTON: I had a nurse the other day who told me that she's gone out to her car more than once and actually thrown up after her shift.

CASTELLI: The dismal forecast comes at a time when the Department of Labor says an additional 450,000 nurses will be needed through 2008.

(on camera): The bright spot here is that 75 percent of current nurses surveyed said they could be persuaded to stay, but only if changes were made. Number one on their wish list: increase staffing.

(voice-over): That and better pay and schedules may also lure former nurses back into the profession, according to the study. The organization, one of the smaller unions representing nurses, says it's a prescription that only can be filled with a little government muscle, including a proposed ban on mandatory overtime and federal standards on staffing levels. Amy Castelli, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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