Nursing Shortages

Some information on the proposed (but not yet adopted) Nursing Relief Act of 2009 is here.

But is there currently a significant nursing shortage?  It is not clear the shortage is ubiquitous, and it likely depends on what state you live in.

Megan Woolhouse of the Boston Globe writes that, counterintuitively,  hospitals in Boston, MA have been laying off nurses. 

What are the reasons for the layoffs?  Woolhouse proposes a couple of explanations centered around the effects of the current economic downturn :

Excerpt from Woolhouses's April 18, 2009 article:

"Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center recently said it will lay off more than 100 employees, including nurses, and officials at two Boston nursing schools said opportunities for new nurses are nearly nonexistent at Children's Hospital.

There are two major reasons for the lack of new jobs. First, most hospitals are treating fewer patients as people put off costly elective surgery. At the same time, many experienced part-time nurses are looking for more hours, while others are coming out of retirement because a spouse was laid off.

"This steep recession has placed an unusual economic burden on a lot of households and it's driving many nurses back to the labor market," said Peter Buerhaus, a professor at Vanderbilt University who has written extensively about the nation's nursing shortage."

So, at least in Boston, an increase in the supply in labor coupled with a decrease in the demand for that labor is to blame for the nursing layoffs?  I am skeptical.  Could hospitals be unsustainably cutting corners and/or asking retained nurses to do more for less?