Abstract
Under the widespread awareness of the “shortage of nurses,” various measures have been taken to prevent the quitting jobs of nurses and to facilitate their continued working at the same facilities. A factor underlying such a trend is the recognition that the age distribution of nurses at hospitals does not depict an M-shaped curve, but shows a tendency towards decrease in the number of nurses with age increase over 30 years.
This tendency, however, does not apply to all prefectures of Japan. According to the data collected from Yamagata Prefecture, the age distribution of nurses depicts an M-shaped curve. In the present study, the age distribution of nurses in Yamagata Prefecture was analyzed in detail. The analysis revealed that although the number of nurses at acute-care hospitals in the central district of this prefecture tends to decrease with age increase over 30 years, the flow of nurses between different districts in the form of switching place of work or resuming work serves as an important path for supply of personnel to non-central districts, resulting in an M-shaped curve of the age distribution seen in the entire prefecture. The M-shaped curve of nurses' age distribution in Yamagata Prefecture is not an outcome of the measures taken for the prevention of job-quitting and facilitation of continued working at the same facilities.
The policy on nursing from now on should encompass not only measures to facilitate fixing of nursing staff (primarily at acute-care hospitals), but also measures related to providing support for nurses from the inter-facility viewpoint, covering movement of nurses between multiple facilities as well.
