Home Care Shortage Essay

The shortages in healthcare continue to increase as the baby boomer generation ages throughout the United States. Not only does this affect the public but also the health care worker as they will be reaching the retirement age as well. With this demand increasing, the human resource management departments are seeking a new way to attract and retain new employees.
One area that is experiencing a shortage is the profession of the nurse. Many times as is often seen in a hospital, when the economy takes a turn for the worse and people are often struggling to survive, many hospitals will employ temporary nurses, according to the Journal of Nursing Scholarship (2016). In addition, the hospitals then will move the part-time nurses to full time to

This profession is described as persons who provide personal care and daily activities for people living in their own homes. The common age for the persons who receive these services is generally 65 years and older. This profession is likely to have a shortage due to the expanding life expectancy and the increasing age of the baby boomer generation. Many people want to stay in their homes as long as possible rather than enter long-term care facilities. For agencies to understand what would retain their workers, an academic research was completed on HSW in Canada and the United States. The information gathered found that there are four areas that are important to the home service worker: compensation, education and training, quality assurance, and working conditions (Keefe, Knight, Martin-Matthews, & Le'gar'e, 2011). Compensation relates to the low wages in comparison to a colleague that may be employed in a facility as well as any benefits that may or may not be available. Education and training, most of Canada requires college level education for an HSW, however, in the U.S. this is not always the case (Keefe, et al., 2011). Continuity of care is vital to maintaining quality assurance, at least for the patient. Working conditions, whether it be heavy or light workloads, stressful or not, or even positive ones have an impact on employee