Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development

Home > News Releases > State to Survey the State’s 73,000 RNs

Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development News Release
Thursday, December 1, 2005 Governor Jim Doyle Secretary Roberta Gassman	News Media Contact Rose Lynch   608/266-6753 e-mail: news@dwd.state.wi.us fax: 608/266-1784

State to Survey the State’s 73,000 RNs

Survey results will help develop strategies to alleviate state’s nursing shortage

Madison - Department of Workforce Development (DWD) Secretary Roberta Gassman and Department of Regulation and Licensing Secretary (DRL) Celia Jackson announced today that DWD, DRL, other state agencies, healthcare and nursing organizations are seeking input from the state’s 73,000 Registered Nurses (RNs) through a wide-ranging survey which will be used to develop strategies to alleviate anticipated health care worker shortages, particularly the projected nursing shortage.

Said Secretary Gassman, “Wisconsin has a higher percentage of older citizens than many other states and, as a result, a higher percentage of individuals with increasing health care needs. At the same time, many health care workers themselves are nearing retirement age. These factors are creating a shortage of workers in the health care field, particularly in nursing. We are very concerned about these shortages and are seeking input from today’s nurses to help us more effectively train and attract new workers to the health care field.

“Wisconsin’s nurses have traditionally been leaders and active partners in delivering quality health care services to the citizens of our state. I strongly encourage every nurse to participate in this important effort”, said Department of Regulation and Licensing Secretary Celia Jackson.

DWD’s economists estimate that 10,000 openings for new and replacement health care workers will be created each year for the next 10 years, as demand for health care increases and current workers retire. Nurses are in the greatest demand. Access to quality health care is dependent on enough qualified nurses to staff hospitals, long-term care facilities, and medical clinics. The survey results will help Wisconsin to:

• Create strategic solutions to ensure adequate nursing staff in the future;
• Increase nurse retention rates;
• Attract young people and workers to health care professions;
• Identify issues regarding RN shortages; and,
• Provide new opportunities for nurses to participate in concentrated degree programs.

Added Gassman, “Data from our state’s nurses is important as we develop strategies to alleviate the workforce shortage. Our nurses are key to the excellent health care that we all have come to appreciate in Wisconsin. We want that to continue.”

Nurses have received information about the survey with their notice of license renewal and have until March 7, 2006 to complete the survey. The survey is web-based and may be completed from any Internet capable PC. Health care providers are encouraged to allow RNs to complete the survey from their worksite. If RNs are unable to complete the web survey, they may do so by phone through a secure toll free number at 1-800-966-0152.

Survey questions ask information about educational background, hours worked, benefits received, commuting distances, healthcare workplace issues and interest in becoming nurse educators. All results are strictly confidential. No RN or workplace will be identified.

This is the second such survey conducted. The first, done in 2001, resulted in many successful initiatives, such as the:

• Creation of Governor Doyle's “GROW Wisconsin: 2005 Agenda” Safe Patient Lift Initiative to reduce healthcare injuries due to lifting;
• Creation of the Select Committee on Healthcare workforce Development to raise awareness of shortages;
• Wisconsin Technical College System increasing their 2-year RN program capacity to more than double the number of students;
• UW-System creating programs to train nurses into nurse educators, and
• Creation of the first Wisconsin Health Care Workforce Annual Report to highlight efforts to address workforce demands. The report can be found at http://dwd.wisconsin.gov/healthcare.

Additional information on the Wisconsin 2006 Registered Nurse Workforce Survey can be found on the DRL site at http://drl.wi.gov/prof/rn/def.htm or at the DWD WORKnet site at http://worknet.wisconsin.gov/RN

News Release Index Page

Content Contact: Rose Lynch