The Joint Commission’s report on solving the nurse shortage is an opportunity lost. While we commend the Commission for clearly stating that the nurse shortage stems from poor working conditions, the report does not go nearly far enough in advocating strong, workable solutions to solve the crisis. The report does call for many organizations such as hospitals, nursing schools or managed care providers to be held accountable for addressing problems, but it fails to assign any oversight to guarantee that they do so.

After decades of disinvestment in nurse education, reductions in staffing levels to bolster profit margins in healthcare facilities and unchecked growth of mandatory overtime to keep labor costs low, it comes as no surprise that fewer people enter or stay in nursing, even while the demand for nurses is growing.

With an increasing number of nurses rapidly reaching retirement age and over 125,000 nurse positions vacant, AFT Healthcare calls for immediate action. Lawmakers should ban mandatory overtime, set safe nurse-patient ratios, and hold healthcare employers responsible for improving working conditions. With these changes in place, our healthcare system will be able to provide the best care possible for all patients and to attract the more than 1 million new nurses the country will need by 2010.