By all accounts, the heavy demand for healthcare professionals is still on the rise—especially for nurses—with no immediate prospects for improvement. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects registered nursing jobs will grow 26% in hospitals and 45% in ambulatory care, accounting for 74% of the 623,000 projected increase in employment of registered nurses from 2002 through 2012.

Watson Wyatt’s study, Strategic Rewards and Retention Practices in the Health Care Sector: 2006/2007 Report, reveals more:

• 69% of health care organizations are having trouble retaining critical-skill employees to a moderate or great extent, compared with 43% of organizations across all industries.

• Retaining registered nurses is the most difficult staffing challenge facing health care providers, with 84% listing it among their top three staffing challenges, followed by pharmacists (39%) and rehab therapists (33%).

I’m sure this isn’t news if you’re working in healthcare today, but it serves to reinforce the need for a proactive approach – and a long-term view – towards talent acquisition and retention practices in the face of an unrelenting need. Technology support for managing candidate pools can help track information on future and also current skilled nurses.

For yet more insights into healthcare hiring, read the BusinessWeek cover story titled What’s Really Propping Up the Economy.