Average age of nurses increases

~ By 2010, the average nurse will be over 45 years old.

America's hospitals increasingly rely on older nurses who run the risk of back injuries on the job and who may soon retire, one of the nation's top nursing experts said Friday.

That could pose a staffing problem if more young adults don't go into nursing, said Peter Buerhaus, nursing professor and senior associate dean for research at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing in Nashville, Tenn.

Buerhaus spoke to about 50 nurses, hospital officials and nursing students at Southeast Missouri State University's Glenn Auditorium. The lecture was sponsored by an endowment created by the late Margaret Woods Allen of Sikeston, Mo.

The average age of registered nurses over the past 20 years has climbed from nearly 38 to over 42.

By 2010, the average nurse will be over 45 years old, Buerhaus said. Many of the nurses will be in their 50s.

That's a concern, he said. "The worrisome part is their bodies are starting to break down," he said.

A third of nurses nationwide have experienced workplace injuries including back problems, Buerhaus said.

Hospitals, he said, must look at how to improve the work environment to better protect older nurses from back and other on-the-job injuries.

"If things continue as they are, we will see fewer nurses," said Buerhaus.

Nationwide, there could be a shortfall of 800,000 nurses in hospitals, nursing homes and medical offices by 2020.

But Buerhaus said he expects the medical industry and government will find ways to recruit more nurses to help meet the demand.

The number of registered nurses in hospitals jumped by more than 177,000 from 2002 to 2004, he said.

But Buerhaus credited some of the increase to older nurses who returned to the workforce during a declining economy.

Seventy percent of registered nurses are married, he said. Some of these nurses are willing to work to supplement household income during an economic decline.

But when the economy improves, those nurses often decide to work less or retire, he said.

Nursing administrators at Saint Francis Medical Center and Southeast Missouri Hospital, who attended the lecture, said their institutions currently aren't experiencing a nursing shortage.

But they said they could be faced with a shortage in the future as older nurses retire.

Jeannie Fadler, vice president for patient care services at Saint Francis, said the hospital must compete for nurses with hospitals as far away as St. Louis.

Karen Hendrickson, vice president and chief nursing officer at Southeast Missouri Hospital, said the average age of nurses at her hospital mirrors the national average.

As a result, she said, it's important to encourage more people to take up nursing careers.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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