JCAHO proposes solutions to nursing shortage - Updata - Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations - Brief Article

Healthcare Financial Management, Oct, 2002

In response to the more than 126,000 unfilled nursing positions nationwide and the resulting risk to quality of care, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has published a white paper proposing solutions to the crisis. Among the recommendations are creation of an organizational culture of retention that includes:

* Providing management training to nurses and setting staffing levels based on nurse competency and skill mix relative to patient mix and acuity;

* Bolstering the nursing educational infrastructure by increasing funding for nursing education and establishing a standard postgraduate nursing residency program; and

* Establishing financial incentives for investing in nursing by aligning private payer and Federal reimbursement incentives to reward effective nurse staffing.

To read the report, Health Care at the Crossroads: Strategies for Addressing the Evolving Nursing Crisis, go to http://www.jcaho.org/news room/news release archives/health care at t he crossroads. pdf.