PubMed Health⌕ Search
Home/Archive/PubMed

PubMed · 16330823

Measuring the nursing workforce: clarifying the definitions.

Kyndaron Reinier·Mary Val Palumbo·Barbara McIntosh·Betty Rambur·Jane Kolodinsky·Laurie Hurowitz·Takamaru Ashikaga
View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Numerous articles have addressed the causes and implications of the current nursing shortage. Little has been published, however, about how to measure the nursing workforce. This article presents (1) a review of definitions for common workforce indicators such as vacancy and turnoverrates and the relationship between these indicators and the need for nurses,(2) a review of the calculation of vacancy and turnoverrates in several statewide and national surveys, and (3) the results from the development and pilot test of a health care workforce survey for use in Vermont. The review indicates that in practice, no standard method is used despite attempts to standardize the calculation of vacancy and turnover rates. The Vermont pilot study results demonstrate that a richer profile of the health workforce can be obtained by using both standard workforce measures and more subjective questions to assess a statewide need for nurses.

Explore related subjects

Data CollectionHumansNursesPersonnel TurnoverTerminology as TopicVermontJournal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tReview

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Kyndaron Reinier, Mary Val Palumbo, Barbara McIntosh, Betty Rambur, Jane Kolodinsky, Laurie Hurowitz, Takamaru Ashikaga. 2005. Measuring the nursing workforce: clarifying the definitions.. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077558705281073

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related citations

PubMed2007

Probability estimation when some observations are grouped.

This paper considers the use of additional questions for decreasing survey non-response rates and an approach for estimating a probability based on the results obtained. In a survey, the respondents are asked to answer an original question and follow-up questions, where the answers for the follow-up questions are grouped answers for the original question. For example, respondents are asked to provide an exact number of incidents, but in cases of 'Do not know' or 'Refuse' responses, they are subsequently asked to pick an answer from a less specific categorical scale. The new estimator obtains smaller variance asymptotically and does not depend on a distribution family. This method is applied to income questions in a survey regarding injury prevention and behaviours. Another application is survey data on intimate partner violence, where some amendments were applied for incorporating post-stratification weights and for using non-random grouping. For additional illustration, an example of parameter estimation on artificially generated data is presented.

Data Collection↗