title: Retaining the experts. Aging nurses in mental health.
abstract: The aging of the nursing workforce has contributed to the critical shortage of nurses. There is a consistent pattern of nurses leaving hospital settings as they age and leaving the workforce entirely after age 50. Few data are available on how this may affect quality of care in mental health services in the future. Research is needed to better understand the relationship between workplace variables and older workers' health, safety, and satisfaction, so that aging nurses in mental health may extend their working life and continue sharing their expertise that has been developed over many years.
authors.affiliation: George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA. jsorrell@gmu.edu
authors.forename: Jeanne M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Sorrell
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005544:Forecasting; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008875:Middle Aged; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing; D012179:Retirement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States; D000078329:Workforce; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data