2008 Houston RN Workforce Survey Insights

The health care delivery system in the United States is facing dramatic challenges. As hospitals and health systems struggle to respond to increased demand for services, financial pressures, and quality concerns, the importance of effective workforce planning to maintain costs while meeting demand becomes even more critical.

In response to demands for local RN workforce data that provides actionable information, HWS developed a first-of-its-kind, centralized and local, workforce planning tool. Going beyond traditional academic studies, national best practices reports, and regional and state data aggregations, Labor Market Pulse delves deeper into the local labor market and sub-labor markets on which crucial recruitment, hiring, and planning decisions are made.

Among the components of this report are data from the inaugural 2008 Houston RN Workforce Survey which was conducted in the summer and early fall of 2008. In response to demands for actionable information at the local level, these surveys were designed to go beyond traditional workforce data to uncover what nurses are really thinking about employers, jobs and education programs. The results provide never-before-seen insights into the behaviors and decisions of student, novice and experienced nurses in the local market. Interspersed with LMP Opportunity Assessments to help digest the data, these key findings include:

  • The employers of choice for current nursing students in Houston
  • The employers of choice for Houston’s novice nurses
  • The employers of choice for Houston’s experienced nurses
  • What nurses desire in their employers and positions
  • Primary reasons for turnover in Bay Area nurses
  • Insights into the newest crop of Bay Area nurses

With help from our research contributors and research council members, Labor Market Pulse surveyed over 400 current and aspiring RNs in the local market, including:

  • 172 pre-license nursing students
  • 52 novice nurses (graduated in 2006 or later)
  • 207 experienced nurses (graduated in 2005 or earlier)

The average age of LMP’s 2008 Houston RN Workforce Survey participants was 36. Houston office of Texas Workforce Solutions reported a median age of 43 for female RNs and 40 for male RNs in the Work Environment Survey 2007-2008. The difference is likely due to the inclusion of nursing students.

Additional details about the survey sample are presented below.

Figure 1

Methodology and Data Presentation

Invitations to participate in Labor Market Pulse’s 2008 Houston RN Workforce Survey were distributed directly by research contributors and council members via e-mail. The survey was conducted and data collected using an industry standard online application. Please see the “Acknowledgements” section of this report for a complete list of Houston’s LMP research contributors and research council members.

Employers were asked to distribute the survey to recent applicants and new hires. LMP believes The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center was the only employer to do so. In future reports, LMP anticipates broader employer participation.

LMP analyzed all data in aggregate as well separately by whether or not respondents worked in the Medical Center.  When data is presented in the aggregate, there were no meaningful differences between those two groups (unless otherwise noted).

   

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