Essay On Nursing Shortage

“At 2.5 million registered nurses, 82.5 percent of whom are employed in nursing, we are the largest number of health care professionals in the United States” (Peterson, para. 4). Since registered nurses can practice in all health care settings, the demand for individuals with a degree and experience within this career is very high. One major problem facing present day nursing is, unfortunately, the shortage of them. A nursing shortage is a lack of educated and trained nurses. There are many unknown reasons on why there is a shortage in the one of fastest growing careers, but some reasons are made known but the nurses, themselves. The main reason for this shortage is the lack of job satisfaction and work environment conditions. According

Since the shortage results in having a high nurse to patient ratio, the patients feel a decrease in the quality of care given. “Low nurse staffing increases the likelihood that some patients will suffer pneumonia, shock and cardiac arrest, and gastrointestinal bleeding, and some patients will die as a result” (Sultz & Young, p. 144). This shortage of nurses leaves each of them with a heavy workload, which does not leave a lot of time to interact with patients. Nurses interact with patients every second of every day; nurses are what patients see as soon as they walk into a health care facility. The satisfaction of patients is a top priority for nurses, but with limited time comes poor communication and possible misdiagnosis. It is important to let the patient describe each symptom and ailment to the nurse so that when then physician steps into the room they can have an understanding on what is going on. With a heavy workload, it could be possible that the nurse fails to collaborate with the physician. It could also be likely that with a heavy workload, the nurse fails to complete the recommended procedures for each