Past and present of registered nurse in China--descriptive analysis of longitudinal national statistics of registered nurse

Abstract

Background China is now in the midst of period of large population aging, which coincides with a global nurse shortage. What added to this problem is the high turnover rate among nurses. Methods The longitudinal national statistics of registered nurses were analyzed in order to provide a broad background to understand and interpret the high turnover rate among nurses properly. Results A great number of beds, predominantly hospital-based beds, has been hurriedly prepared for potential inpatients in past two decades, and accordingly the increase of medical professionals especially registered nurses. The workload discrepancies of registered nurses among three tiers of hospitals may come from different sources. Conclusion This discrepancy is helpful in understanding of high nurse burnout and turnover rate though it seems as inherent systematic problems. A trend of high quality medical service attracting more inpatients has shown, this may cause concerns rather than an satisfied answer, were this trend continued.