As need for nurses increases, more men enter the profession

As the country faces a shortage of doctors, nurses may help fill the void and the government and industry are working to make sure there are enough of these professionals.

The New York Times: More Men Trading Overalls For Nursing Scrubs
Hard figures are elusive, but the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth estimates a shortage of 18,000 nurses in the state by 2015 -; and the labor force is adapting. Oakland University in nearby Rochester, Mich., has established a program specifically to retrain autoworkers in nursing. …  And the College of Nursing at Wayne State University in Detroit is enrolling a wide range of people switching to health careers, including former manufacturing workers (Vigeland, 2/21).

CQ HealthBeat: Wanted: More Advanced Practice Nurses
Hospitals can apply to share in $200 million in health care law money that will be used to encourage the training of more advanced practice nurses, one way federal officials hope to meet an overhaul goal of strengthening primary care. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) officials announced details of the Graduate Nurse Education Demonstration on Wednesday (3/21).

California Healthline: Solution To Physician Shortage May Lie In Mid-Level Practitioners
[Kevin Barnett of the Public Health Institute] had a number of recommendations for expanding the current health care provider system: To better recruit and retain providers in underserved areas, the state should look at loan repayment for providers just out of school. Increase the number of residencies in areas that are underserved ... expand the scope of practice for less-traditional providers, such as nurse practitioners, physician assistants and others (Gorn, 3/22). 

Meanwhile, some doctors are moving to a more flexible schedule.

Medscape: 1 In 4 Physicians Employed By Large Groups Are Part-Time
The nation's largest medical groups increasingly rely on part-timers, and a higher percentage of them are men. In 2011, part-time physicians represented 25% of the workforce in large groups, up from 13% in 2005, according to the latest physician retention survey conducted by the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) and Cejka Search, a healthcare recruitment firm (Lowes, 3/21).