The Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing Workforce: Large Numbers, Little Data

Managing the supply of psychiatric-mental health nursing labor, determining the financial incentives associated with the provision of services by these providers, and ensuring optimal patient and cost outcomes are critical elements of cost control and patient safety in the current health care market. Knowledge of the psychiatric-mental health nursing workforce is needed to plan and evaluate cost-effective programs to accomplish the aforementioned elements. However, the psychiatric-mental health nursing workforce data are woefully inadequate. This paper will review the extent to which national data sources contain workforce information on psychiatric-mental health nurses.