Nursing Shortage

Nursing shortage will increase as there are many nurses approaching retirement age. The problem is not only that there aren’t enough nurses, but they are quitting their jobs as well. Reasons to why nurses leave their jobs are as follows: unsatisfied with their workload or work schedule, there are times they aren’t able to balance their work and family life, and the teaching support (Yedidia, 2014). Fewer nurses on the floor affects patients, other nurses, hospitals, nursing schools, and education. There needs to be a focus on the education that nursing schools are providing. There are job positions available, but some nurses do not meet the education requirements. There needs to be a way to motivate nurses to pursue a higher education so that

they can fill in those job positions that are needed.
This issue has to be taken more seriously, especially because faculty members are reaching retirement age, which “threatens our capacity to educate sufficient numbers of nurses with the competencies required in a reformed health care system” (Yedidia, 2014). There needs to be younger nurses who can learn from these nurses who are about to retire, in this way hospitals won’t feel the burden of losing their nurses. This issue as previously mentioned affects the hospital and other nurses. If there are fewer nurses on the floor that means the workload increases, leading the nurse to be unsatisfied, which can affect the quality of care they give to the patient, errors are more likely, unsatisfied patients, and hospitals or nurses can get sued if errors occur.
In order to prevent nurses from quitting their jobs we must address the burden and stress that they face in their workplace. One way is by preparing the nursing students to the work life through clinical simulations (Yedidia, 2014). The student nurses won’t be overwhelmed with the workload and through this method we can avoid the negative impact on their work life, thus prevent them from thinking of quitting their job or nursing in general. Another way is by offering incentives for graduate nurses to increase their education (Yedidia, 2014). This can help fill in job positions that are needed like, say midwives or nurse practitioners.