An Update on Nursing Employment in Wyoming

The ability of Wyoming’s health care system to deliver high quality services to its citizens is of critical importance. A key part of the state’s health care system is its nursing workforce. This article presents a brief overview and update to the previously published nursing dashboard indicators (http://doe.state.wy.us/LMI/nursing/2012/ DASHBOARDS_COMPLETE_FEB2012. pdf). The tables provide information on trends in nursing wages, demographics, and turnover. Although this research focused on trends in the nursing profession, turnover and earnings analyses for other industries and statewide for comparison purposes are available at http://doe.state.wy.us/LMI/turnover.htm. The enactment of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act (Title 13) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, Public Law 111-5) and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, Public Law 111-148) will affect all aspects of health care delivery, including the nursing profession. Timely and regular reporting of these indicators will allow readers to better understand how these pieces of legislation and other factors affect this part of the health care system over time. This research is intended to provide a presentday description of the nursing workforce in addition to an analysis of trends affecting