Just as the largest generation of patients approaches old age, the largest generation of nurses prepares to retire. Recent findings reported by Auerbach, Buerhaus and Staiger, (Health Affairs, 2007) indicated that large numbers of people are entering the profession in their late twenties and early thirties. And although it remains unclear why people are becoming nurses later, there is evidence that nursing is attracting interest from different segments of the potential workforce than it was in the 1970s and 1980s. A revised forecast model still predicts a nurse shortage by 2020, but a smaller one than previously forecast. Given the nursing shortage predicted over the next twenty years, and these new findings of older nurses entering the workforce, it is particularly critical to retain the talent and expertise older nurses often possess.  
In order to better understand the lived experience of the aging nurse, we designed a study
whose purpose was directed to investigating the life/planning processes of nurse 50+ at three sites.  This is a descriptive, qualitative study.  Thirty subjects were interviewed using structured and unstructured questions until saturation of data was achieved.  Examples of concepts embedded in the structured interview include: life/career planning, life/career development, finding meaning in life/practice, consideration of other careers, retirement plan planning, and the workplace environment.
 
Wisdom at work a White Paper supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has recommended that human resource benefits, ergonomic technology, architectural intelligence, and delivery systems that provide safe and quality care be introduced into the health care field.  Our study has begun to identify life/work/career planning patterns and some positive approaches for the design of current strategies and technologies to retain the older nurse.