Air Force meeting nurse recruiting and retaining challenges

  • Published
  • By G.W. Pomeroy
  • Air Force Surgeon General Public Affairs
WASHINGTON (AFPN) --  The nurse shortage is a growing national and international problem, but Air Force officials are taking several measures to sustain its 3,608 person active-duty nurse corps, the Air Force’s assistant surgeon general for nursing services told a Senate panel May 10.

“The nurse shortage continues to pose an enormous challenge, and we need to maintain robust recruiting to sustain our nurse corps,” Maj. Gen. Barbara C. Brannon told the Senate Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee on defense. “This year we have already brought 110 new nurses onto active duty, slightly more than at this point last year.

“Retention is the other dimension of force sustainment,” said General Brannon, who is also the Air Force’s assistant surgeon general for medical force development. “While monetary incentives play the key role in recruiting, quality of life issues become important when career decisions are made. We continue to enjoy excellent retention and ended fiscal 2004 close to our authorized end strength.”

General Brannon, who testified with her Army and Navy counterparts, said that in 2004, Air Force officials identified about 400 nonwartime essential positions -- primarily in outpatient settings -- for conversion to civilian jobs over the next three years.

“This allows us to concentrate active-duty personnel in areas that sustain wartime skills. As force shaping continues, we will identify additional positions, recognizing that the nursing shortage may present hiring challenges,” she said.

The triservice nursing research program continues to support major contributions to the science of nursing, she said.

“This year, 25 Air Force nurses are engaged in studies covering topics from expeditionary clinical practice to retention,” General Brannon said.

The Graduate School of Nursing at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Md., is very responsive in developing programs to meet military nursing requirements, she said. General Brannon said that, in May, the first class of perioperative clinical nurse specialists will graduate, and the inaugural doctorate class will complete its second year.

She said that the certified registered nurse anesthetist program continues to graduate top-notch providers who score well above the national average on the certification exam.

“This program is unique in that it provides hands-on experience in field anesthesia,” General Brannon said.

In written testimony submitted to the panel, she noted that the Air Force conducted a survey in 2004 to identify positive and negative influences on nurse corps retention. The top two factors influencing nurses to remain in the Air Force were a sense of duty and professional military satisfaction. Inadequate staffing was cited as a primary detractor.

General Brannon wrote that the service is clarifying concerns and providing better leadership-development programs. One fix has been putting senior, experienced nurses back at the bedside to guide and mentor junior nurses and support their professional development and satisfaction.

The Air Force is by no means alone in the struggle to attract and keep nurses, General Brannon said.

In her written testimony, she indicated that this year the Bureau of Labor Statistics projected that registered nursing would have the largest job growth of any occupation through the year 2012, and it is estimated that job openings will exceed the available nurse pool by 800,000 positions.

The crisis, according to her statement, is complicated by an increasing shortage of masters’ and doctoral-prepared nursing faculty across the country. Although the number of enrollments in entry-level baccalaureate programs rose 10.6 percent last year, the National League for Nursing reported that more than 36,000 qualified students were turned away because of limitations in faculty, clinical sites and classrooms.

“Employer competition for nurses will continue to be fierce, and nurses have many options to consider,” General Brannon wrote.