The recent economic recession and slow-paced recovery have contributed to dampening out the shortage of hospital-employed registered nurses (RNs), a shortage that has persisted since the mid-1980s. While national unemployment rates remain relatively high and continue to exert economic pressure on RNs to maintain high levels of employment activity, hospital and nurse executives now have an opportunity to make strategic investments in the organizational infrastructure supporting nursing because once the economy rebounds, RN shortages could easily resurface.