TaMia Artis
Allyson Daly
English IV
7 December 2017
The Problem of Nursing Drought
The nursing profession has experienced continuous shortages many times in the past which can be linked back to WWI. The pattern has recurred, swarms of nursing come in and out resulting in a lack of nurses to help healthcare systems function smoothly. The underlying question is what is causing the nursing shortage and how can the issue be solved. The influences of a declining number of applicants to nursing schools, an aging workforce, and a baby boom generation that will need a vast amount of care are all contributing factors to the shortage. Writing in the journal Commentary, Nevidjon & Erickson state “From an economic perspective, this shortage is being driven
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However, the the outside world doesn’t always acknowledge the skill and knowledge nurses have obtained through education and experience. In order to bring a better image to the public, nurses have to be more engaging to show what their work actually entails. Places where medical surgery, examines, etc. take place often get a bad reputation especially hospitals and nursing homes when it comes to nurses. The public views the nursing world as neglectful and uncaring. It is the job of the nurse to care for the patient but in some instances you find some trained unprofessional nurses who change the public's opinion on such matters. In order to make the image look better and bring in potential nurses to fill these vacant spots is by being visually open to tell those who may be interested about your job field and what it consists off. As a child I always thought the hospital was where everyone went to pass away which in some instances may be true but that's not always the case a hospital or any healthcare system is a safe haven built for your health and well …show more content…
The profession is growing immensely through vast technology. The new development in this field takes a lot off the plate of the nursing resulting in them being able to focus on more important mechanics (Future of Nursing) Hospitals have started using robots to take on some of the basic jobs of nurses for example, delivering meals, medicine, medical records, and various supplies needed throughout the hospital. (Future of Nursing) With this in mind it give nurses more time to spend on caring for the patient. In the same way computer technology can be used to program paperwork to cut back on wasted time that could have been put towards a patient. Huston states, “A handful of healthcare providers have showed concern about the lack of emotion in robots, technology should not and could not replace human elements.”(Huston) I agree that robots lack a sense of emotion, but would it not be better for them to do certain jobs to give the patient and nurse more time to fix the problem at hand and care for the patient
Many health care professionals are wondering why shortage transpired when managed care cost initiatives, implemented throughout the country, are dramatically decreasing the length of patient stays (Upenieks, 2003). In fact, such a situation should be resulting in a nursing oversupply. As the nursing shortage ensues, the need for recruiting and retaining highly skilled nurses committed to the organization will become necessary to maintain high-quality patient care. The recent national nurse shortage has resulted in higher nurse workloads; fewer support resources, greater nursing dissatisfaction, and burnout, making it more difficult to provide optimal patient care (Upenieks, 2003). The primary role of nursing is to provide the best possible care to patients.
Nevidjon, B., & Erickson, J. (31 January, 2001). The Nursing Shortage: Solutions for the Short
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s Employment Projections 2012-2022 released in January 2014, the Registered Nursing workforce is the top occupation in terms of job growth through 2022. It is expected that the number of employed nurses will grow from 2.71 million in 2012 to 3.24 million in 2022, an increase of 526,800 or 19 percent. Growth will take place for a number of reasons: demand for health care services due to increasing life expectancy; chronic conditions, such as arthritis, dementia, diabetes, and obesity; and the number of individuals who have access to health services.
There is a surge of retiring nurses and a rising number of patients. Hospitals are scrambling to fill the tens of thousands of nursing positions, therefore, asks the question as to
There are many who believe that the next shortage will be worse and the demand for nurses will increase. There will be more jobs available especially with the baby boomer nurses retiring. Wood believes that when nurses retire, the next shortage could be even worse than the previous shortage. According to Wood this would lead to an “intellectual drain of institutional and professional nursing knowledge” (Wood, 2011, para 15). Staiger agrees as well that a shortage of nurses is expected again when nurses retire and since the economy will be more stable full-time nurses will go back to being part-time (Huston, 2017). Huston expects for the supply of nurses to grow minimally in the next couple of years and for a large number of nurses
The nursing shortage most likely does not mean a great deal to people until they are in the care of a nurse. The United States is in a severe nursing shortage with no relief in sight due to many factors compounding the problem and resulting in compromised patient care and nurse burnout. Nursing shortages have been experienced in the past by the United States and have been overcome with team effort. However, the current shortage is proving to be the most complex and great strides are being made to defeat the crisis before it becomes too difficult to change. Researchers anticipate that by 2010, the United States will need almost one million more registered nurses than will be available (Cherry & Jacob, 2005, p. 30).
Current literature continues to reiterate the indicators of a major shortage of registered nurses (RNs) in the United States. The total RN population has been increasing since 1980, which means that we have more RNs in this country than ever before (Nursing Shortage). Even though the RN population is increasing, it is growing at a much slower rate then when compared to the rate of growth of the U.S. population (Nursing Shortage). We are seeing less skilled nurses “at a time of an increasingly aging population with complex care needs and an increasingly complex technological care environment” (Mion). According to recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Department of Health and Human Services, it is estimated that “more than a million new and replacement nurses will be needed over the next decade” (Diagnosis: Critical).
According to the American Nurse Association, nursing has the second greatest job growth in all US professions. However, the number of nursing shortage is only increasing as the years go by. During the hard times that many Americans have been facing in this economy, there have been lots of nurses whom have been let go from their work field, have re-entered their field just so they can provide for their families, or even nursing students whom have felt discouraged from entering their field professionally because of the nursing shortage situations. To specify in a field, the reason for nursing shortage in the OR can be because of lack of peroperative education or experience, nurses wanting to work in other areas, or the trouble of drawing nurses into this field.
"Projected Supply, Demand, and Shortages of Registered Nurses: 2000-2020." American Health Care Association. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Jul 2002. Web. 10 Mar 2012.
Nursing has always been a key career in the health care system. Although it is not often focused on media and stories surrounding health care, nursing is a career of great importance. If any patient was asked about their experience at a hospital or a care center, many would mention the capability and care that they received from the nurses. The health care system could not function efficiently, if at all, if nurses were not present to perform their part. Nurses are more than just physicians, support staff.
Since the 1990’s, the interest in nursing and the profession as a whole has decreased dramatically and is still expected to do so over the next 10-15 years according to some researchers. With this nursing shortage, many factors are affected. Organizations have to face challenges of low staffing, higher costs for resources, recruiting and reserving of registered nurses, among liability issues as well. Some of the main issues arising from this nurse shortage are the impact of quality and continuity of care, organizational costs, the effect it has on nursing staff, and etc. However, this not only affects an organization and community, but affects the nurses the same. Nurses are becoming overwhelmed and are questioning the quality of care that each patient deserves. This shortage is not an issue that is to be taken lightly. The repercussions that are faced by both nurses and the organization are critical. Therefore, state funding should be implemented to private hospitals in order to resolve the shortage of nurses. State funds will therefore, relieve the overwhelming burdens on the staff, provide a safe and stress free environment for the patient, and allow appropriate funds needed to keep the facility and organization operational.
The prolonged shortage of skilled nursing personnel has been a serious concern to the healthcare industry, and this shortage has impacted the quality of care delivery. In addition, nursing turnover has also exacerbated the problem of nursing shortage. Nursing shortage has been blamed on many nurses retiring and less younger nurses joining the occupation. There is also an increase in life expectancy (baby boomers) leading an increase in both physical and mental ailment with subsequent demand in nursing care. Nurses are also leaving nursing profession because of inadequate staffing, tense work environment, negative press about the profession, and inflexible work schedules. Even though nursing is a promising career and offers job security, the
The nursing shortage is a growing issue in the United States. The problem began in the 1930s, as there was increased hospital use. Nursing shortage makes some of the hospitals to close the beds or hire temporary nurses, which is expensive with the aim of filling the gap and providing less optimal care to the patients (Chan et al., 2013). The issue is not that individuals are not going into nursing but also the fact that the existing nurses are not going into education. Shortsightedness and retention concerning retention and recruitment contributed to the beginning of a shortage of nurses in the late 1990s, and the shortfall has lasted for long. Additionally, the lifespan of human beings has increased due to the advancing technology, and it
Solutions for the nursing shortage beyond implementing safe nurse staffing ratios include: ongoing long-term workforce planning; institution of an education and practice system to promote more equitable compensation in the health care community based on a better understanding of the educational preparation required for different health care roles; implementation of specific strategies to retain experienced nurses in the provision of direct patient care, investigating the potential for using technological advances to enhance the capacity of a reduced nursing workforce; and advocate for increased nursing education funding under Title VIII of the Public Health Service Act and other publicly funded initiatives to improve
A lot of people question if the robot really creates a more efficient workforce. There are opposing viewpoints that even believe that a robotic nurse could never replace a human nurse