The national nursing shortage: Recruitment and retention challenges for the Army (USAWC Military Studies Program paper)
by Steven E. Kading, Army War College (U.S.)
Category: Military nursing

Like the country at large, the Army has been challenged by a national imbalance between the supply of professional nurses and the demand for their services. This shortage, known as the nursing shortage, poses special problems for the Army Medical Department as it strives to maintain wartime readiness and provide comprehensive peacetime care to Department of Defense beneficiaries. History demonstrates that the present nursing shortage is different from past ones in that it has been caused by a host of emerging trends in health care and society at large. Unlike past shortages, experts believe there are no 'quick fixes' to the present, persistent shortages of nurses. Instead, it will require reforms that address a whole series of basic underlying problems. Still, classic studies have demonstrated attributes of magnet hospitals and characteristics of the nursing profession that provide clues to resolving, or at least ameliorating, the nursing shortage for the Army. This paper reviews the national nursing shortage and the history of shortages of nurses to meet Army needs. It examines strategies the Army Nurse Corps has used to correct imbalances in nurse compensation and improve its ability to successfully compete with the civilian labor market for nurses. It draws upon the classic studies and critiques the Army for failing to incorporate lessons learned in devising successful strategies for recruiting and retaining nurses. Finally, it introduces early findings of the Army Nurse Corps Proud to Care Survey and uses them to formulate the author's view of elements that should form the basis for a strategic restructuring of the role, function and organization of Army nursing.