Would red carpets and massage chairs convince you to purse a career known for red tape and wheel chairs?

Recruiters struggling to fill our nation's nursing shortage hope so. The AP has a story today detailing some of the creative methods recruiters are using to attract new nurses and convince former nurses to come back to the field. (We blogged a few months ago about attempts to recruit and retain nurses by giving them greater autonomy.)

As the article notes, despite reasonably high salaries—registered nurses made an average of $62,480 in 2007—and that nursing is one of the few growing job sectors in our economy, it's not been an easy job to fill. Several factors are at play. A lack of qualified instructors limits the number of nurses who can be trained each year. Nurse who are qualified to teach often find they can make up to 20 percent more at a hospital.

Workplace environment also comes into play. JobsRated.com recently ranked the top 200 jobs from best (mathematician) to worst (lumberjack), using a methodology that looked at environment, income, outlook, stress and physical demands. A registered nurse came in at No. 143, right behind a general practice physician at No. 142 and a Janitor at No. 141. 

OK so we aren't quite sure about that ranking system. But we've been hearing a lot about the role of primary care, prevention, care coordination and the like in health care reform. So cut the red tape, put out those red carpets.We need nurses.