The American Nurses Association (ANA) is urging immediate increased investment in nursing training to ensure a sufficient nursing workforce to meet anticipated future demand from an aging U.S. population and the newly insured under the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansions.

According to the ANA, at the same time as the healthcare system will be taking on the care of more patients, its nursing workforce is aging and leaving the workforce for retirement.

“We’re seeing mixed signals today in the nurse employment market. There have been layoffs by some hospitals at the same time that ‘registered nurse’ ranks as the most advertised positions nationwide,” stated Pamela F. Cipriano, Ph.D., R.N., NEA-BC, FAAN, the ANA’s president, in a press release. “But it would be a big mistake to ignore the reality of an aging population coupled with a graying nursing workforce. It is essential that we take common sense actions to plan for and invest in the next generation of nurses. Demand for care is going to grow and nurses are going to retire in droves, so we have to prepare now to meet future needs.”

The ANA’s recommendations include:

• Increasing federal funding for Title VIII, a program that aims to bolster the national supply of registered nurses by underwriting education, recruiting and retaining of R.N.s. Because of federal budget cuts, the program has experienced an average 2 percent funding decrease over the last four years despite growing demand for R.N.s., the ANA noted.
• Bolstering nursing education by developing and recruiting more nursing professors and ensuring an adequate number of clinical training sites for nursing students
• Increasing capacity at nursing schools. According to the ANA, about 80,000 nursing school applicants were turned away from nursing programs in 2012, primarily because of lack of capacity.
• Securing enough clinical training sites to accommodate an increased number of nursing students at nursing schools.
• Encouraging hospitals to think ahead and hire more new nursing graduates now while they can still work with experienced R.N.s nearing retirement age.