Study on current staffmg of nurses and need of hospital nursing human resources in China / 中国实用护理杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the current staffing of nurses and need of hospital nursing human resources in China.Methods Data were collected from 181 secondary and tertiary hospitals and 9774 nurses in mainland China by questionnaires.Results The average doctor-nurse ratio was 1 ∶ 1.39 in tertiary hospitals and 1 ∶ 1.31 in secondary hospitals.The doctor-nurse ratios in 164 hospitals (97.6％) and the proportion of nurses in health care staff in 105 hospitals (61.8％) had not reached the standard set by the Ministry of Health of China.62.3％ nurses held secondary diploma for their initial nursing education.The constituent ratio of nurses held secondary diploma decreased,while the ratio of nurses held advanced diploma and bachelor degree increased in the last 5 years from 2003 to 2007.Sixty percent of newly employed nurses were contract nurses in 2003.The proportion increased to 78％ in 2007,and in some regions it accounted for more than 90％ of new nurses.The needs and constituent ratio of nurses with.secondary diploma and advanced diploma would decrease while nurses with bachelor degree and master degree would increase in the next 5 years (from 2009 to 2013).Conclusions The nursing shortage is still severe in China,and nursing staff mainly held secondary diploma for their initial nursing education.Most of new nurses were employed as conwact nurses.The need of hospitals for nurses has increased,especially for nurses with higher educational level such as bachelor degree and master degree,while the need for secondary diploma hold ers have decreased.The need for advanced diploma holders has increased in the last 5 years and would decrease in the next 5 years,but they would still be the majority of employed nurses.The authors suggested that the staffing of nursing manpower,the work environments and career development of contract nurses should be improved,and the initial nursing education should be upgraded to meet the needs of hospitals.