The hearing on how much the federal government should pay for recruiting or keeping nurses came as the Health and Human Services Department prepared to release new figures Wednesday on the nursing work force.
Preliminary data show the nursing work force has risen, but it is also growing older.
And fewer nurses are entering the profession below the age of 30 and fewer are earning advanced degrees and training. Figures provided by the Senate on Tuesday shows out of 2.7 million licensed registered nurses, 2.2 million were employed as nurses in 2000. That is compared with the 2.5 million licensed to practice, and 2.1 million employed in the 1996 government survey, conducted by the department's Bureau of Health Professions. From 1996 to 2000, the average age of registered nurses has risen from 44.3 to 45.2, the Health Department figures show. Federal officials and nursing groups agree the nation will experience an acute shortage of registered nurses starting in 2010, when today's nurses start to retire.