Is there a nationwide shortage of nurses? It’s hard to say．However, some charact

Is there anationwide shortage of nurses? It’s hard to say．However, some characteristic symptoms oftenindicate that there is indeed a shortage．

One symptom isthe vacancy rate, or the percentage of budgeted positions that are unfilled．New England’s hospitalscurrently report that an average of 7 to 12 percent of their registered nursepositions are vacant, the highest level since the last shortage in the late1980s．Vermont has arelatively low vacancy rate, at 7．8 percent．But its vacancies were at 1．2 percent just five years ago．

Another symptomis the increased use of stopgap measures to fill empty positions．For instance, many nursesreport an upswing in how frequently they are asked to stay past theirshifts．According toMurphy, working in the St．Elizabeth’s Hospital, “The shortage has definitely created a lot ofopportunities of overtime for our nurses, whether they want them or not．” Similarly, a national surveyof registered nurses shows that in an average week, nurses in the U．S．work 2．4 more hours than they are scheduled to．Much of this extra time isvoluntary, as nurses earn overtime pay when they stay to fill in blanks in theschedule．

When they can’tfill open positions by more traditional means, health care providers hiretemporary staff to tide them over．Travelling workers are the largest part of the temporary health careworkforce, hired for thirteen-week reduction at health care facilities facingshort-term lack of workers．Temporary workers, mainly nurses, cost hospitals $ 7．2 billion in 2000．

“Any successfulsolution to the shortage depends on convincing more people to become nurses,and that is not an easy goal to reach．To achieve it,” says Buerhaus, “society needs to place more value onnursing．Legislation（法规） can’t do that –it should come from people．” And if this continues, we might have to learn to care forourselves in the hospital．

1.The temporarystaff hired by a hospital _______．

       A．cost a large part of thehospital’s budget

         B．meet the need for nurses in thehospital for a short time

       C．should work on a weekly basisand on a scheduled timetable  [来源:ZXXK]

         D．ought to work passively forthirty continuous weeks

2.According toBuerhaus, what is a successful solution to the nurse shortage?

       A．To convince people of thebenefits of being a nurse．

       B．To ask the government for helpto work out specific legislation．

       C．To publicize the pastachievements of nurses．

       D．To make people aware of theimportance of being a nurse．

3.What’s theprobable meaning of the underlined word “upswing” in Paragraph 3?

       A．Symptom            B．Decrease                 C．Increase         D．Figure

4.What’s theauthor’s attitude towards nurse shortage?

         A．Worried              B．Indifferent    C．Doubtful                D．Optimistic

试题答案

【答案】

1.B

2.D

3.C

4.A

【解析】略