RESUMEN
A survey on the perceived severity and criteria for defining the nursing shortage was made by interviewing with a semistructured questionnaire 11 nurses responsible for nursing services of 11 Italian hospitals and districts. The questionnaire was administered by interview. Ten hospitals suffer a medium-severe nursing shortage. The main solutions adopted to overcome the nursing shortage are: the closure of wards, the merge of wards, with comparable patients; the employment of support personnel; the mobility of nursing personnel, whereby nurses change wards and are move where they are most needed; modification of shifts. Interestingly, criteria for defining the nursing shortage vary from hospital to hospital, but they are not based on objective data (c.g. number of "missing" nurses). The payment of overtime hours is also different, ranging from 20 to 35 dollars/hour. Since the shortage of nurses will last for the next 5-8 years, a study of criteria for assessing it, of solutions adopted and of their effectiveness is pivotal for gaining a better understanding of the problem.