Nursing Shortage Essay

As the general population continues to age and grow, the nursing workforce is aging alongside. Approximately half of the current nursing workforce is apart of the baby boomer generation (Mion). RNs are eligible to retire at age 55, which will affect the majority of “baby boomer” nurses between 2005 and 2010 (Mion). According to the Nursing Management Aging Workforce Survey in 2006, “55% of surveyed nurses reported their intention to retire between 2011 and 2020” (Nursing Shortage). The demand for skilled nurses is growing at an exponential rate. According to information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the supply of nurses has been

In 2000, it was estimated that there were 110,000 open nursing positions, by 2025, it is projected that the open nursing positions will grow to 260,000. The shortage is due to many aspects including, rising population, decreasing of new students in nursing school, decline in nursing earnings compared to other growing occupational fields, aging of nursing workforce and the aging population that will need health care services in the near future. A survey found that 55% of registered nurses intend to retire between 2011 and 2015. This is primarily the

There will be a few challenges ahead for our healthcare system and the nursing profession: 1. The Aging Population- (baby boomers will be hitting retirement age). 2. Poverty-“the increasing numbers of disenfranchised people and pressure to limit health care expenditures will collide to create an intense values conflict for nurses of the future”. (Chitty & Black p.382) 3. Unhealthy Lifestyles- (obesity, tobacco use, lack of exercise, stress, HIV/AIDS and drug abuse). 4. Faculty and Student shortages- making nursing shortage worse. Nurses as

According to Canadian Nurses Association(2009), human health resources have stated that by the end of 2011 Canada will experience shortage of 78 000 registered Nurses (RN) and shortage of 113 000 nurses by the end of 2016. Globally there will be shortage of 4.3 million health care workers. It was also shown that approximately 38% of new graduate nurses leave their workforce within the first year of employment (Lavoie-Tremblay, Wright, Desforges, Gelinas, Drevniok & Marchionni, 2008). According to registered Nurses Association of Ontario (2011), full time positions of RN dropped to 57.9 % in 2010 from 58.9% in 2009. With the current trend it is expected that the Canadian Nursing shortage will increase significantly. In

Registered nurses are an integral part of the healthcare system, and make up the largest number of healthcare professionals. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2015) “The employment rate for registered nurses is expected to grow by 16% between 2014 and 2024”. This is more than double the average rate of growth for a profession. The rapid growth rate can be attributed in part to better management of chronic diseases and the baby boomer generation. The growth in the nursing profession is paramount, however the demographics of the nursing population does not mirror the demographics of the population served.

It is fairly common knowledge among people in education and especially the medical field that nursing is a massively growing profession. This fact is seen on the New York State Education Department Office of Professions website where there is data that shows the increase of licenses distributed by the state from 2010-2014. While it is known that there are higher numbers of people flocking to nursing as a profession, it is not always clear why people are beginning to choose this path. From what I can think, changes in the national and state economies, changing gender roles in the profession, and a changing need for types of nurses could be reasons for the changes in data.

Nursing shortages have been an issue in the health care field for a few years now. This shortage is seriously impacting nursing homes and the elderly in our society today. With a shortage of 8.1% of nurses in 2008, it is important to understand what is happening to nurses (Addressing the Nursing Shortage, 2010). To help one understand the nurse shortage more, this paper will discuss resource scarcity, stakeholders, economic flows, changes in supply and demand, pricing decisions, along with a business proposal. The business proposal will discuss where the market has a shortage of providers, list of services the firm will provide, explanations of set prices, and who will be hired and how much one will be

The social system becomes more and more demanding, needing us to deal with social and government resources, once we learn the newest of trends. We need to be emotionally supportive when these occur and often hold patients while they die and cry along with their families and loved ones. Budgets are becoming tighter, requiring us to work with less and less resources to function effectively in our jobs. There is an increase in demand for professors in the nursing schools, requiring nurses to achieve higher nursing degrees to qualify them to teach. Nursing schools today have long waiting lists due to the fact that there are inadequate instructors to have adequate teacher-student ratios in the classroom.

31,000 were prelicensure applicants” (as cited in Ganley & Sheets, 2009, p. 401). As more

It is likely that most people have heard about the nursing shortage for years now, and perhaps they believe it’s been fixed. However, the nursing profession is experiencing a reoccurring deficiency. According to Brian Hansen, (2002), there was a nation wide shortage in 2001 of 126,000 full-time registered nurses, but the shortage will surge to 808,000 by 2020 if something isn't done. This pattern is a persisting cycle of high vacancies followed by layoffs and a high over supply of registered nurses. Various factors contribute to the lack of nurses within the health care facilities, but today’s shortages are a little different. Many feel that this scarcity is severe and long-drawn-out. The four major issues contributing to

As the population begins to age in Ontario so does the age of our nurses. The objective of this report is to outline the job prospects for nurses as a result of our ageing population, and the challenges that are presented with these opportunities. With an ever increasing number of nurses retiring, there are fewer graduates to replace them. There was a time in the 1990's when jobs were hard to come by for nurses. Almost 25 years later we are heading towards a shortage that is pointing towards a strain on our healthcare system, with an ageing population and an increase in chronic disease. A large percentage of the population is both ageing and falling ill with fewer nurses by the decade to care for them. According to Statistics Canada the number of seniors will jump to 9.8 million by 2036. There was a time when the number of nursing grads would out number the nurses who were retiring. We are now looking at the pendulum swinging in opposite direction, the number of nurses retiring is projected to outnumber new graduates. If this trend continues “Canada will be short almost 60,000 full-time equivalent RN's by 2022.” (CN-aii.ca).

The massive baby boomer generation, making up almost one-third of the population, began to turn age 65 in 2011. By the same token, this deluge of new patients could put new strains on the nursing workforce, possibly leading to higher patient-to-nurse ratios. (Page, 2015).

Hospitals nationwide are experiencing nurse shortage and increased workloads because of shorter hospital stays, fewer support resources and higher acuity in patients (Vahey, D. C., Aiken, L. H., Sloane, D. M., Clarke, S. P., & Vargas, D., 2004). Higher nurse workloads are directly associated with job burnout and job dissatisfaction which in turn causes more voluntary nurse turnover and relates to the increased nursing shortage. According to the Missouri Hospital Association the turnover rate of nurses has increased by fourteen percent in the last five years (Browning M., 2012). Nursing shortage is a real threat to the patient population. According to the Quality Health Outcomes Model by the American Academy of Nursing by Donabedian, effects of the healthcare interventions are characterized by the environment the staff works in (Vahey et al., 2004). Donabedian describes that quality metrics can be divided into three broad categories, structural, process, and clinical.

The health care issue that I have chosen to research is how we should address the shortage of nurses. I have chosen this topic because I work in a hospital and it is very difficult to recruit new nurses especially in specialized areas. Nurses in the workplace are the largest population of health care employees at 2.7 million nurses employed in the United States according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is almost double the nursing assistants employed at 1.4 million which is the second leading health care occupation in the United States. The nursing profession has the largest job growth from 2008 to 2018 with a total of projection of more than 581,500 new registered nurse positions to be created. It is also projected by 2025 to have a nursing shortage that will grow to more than 260,000 registered nurses (N.d.), Overview of BLS Statistics by Occupation, http://www.bls.gov/bls/occupation.htm

Due to a low number of projected nurses many hospitals are adding more benefits so that their institution is more competitive. The end goal of adding benefits is to attract more nursing students which would help replace retiring nurses and help replace the shortage. “The nursing journal which is a website in the hopes to create a social community for nurses say that “during a labor shortage, employment-based benefits can be used to recruit and retain workers” (Spetz and Adams, 2006). Lehigh Valley Health Network mentions some of the great benefits of being a nurse is Healthcare packages like medical, dental, and vision for all employees, generous sick leave, lots of retirement programs and matching offers, and life insurance is available for the employee and their family (Nursing Salaries, Benefits and Flexible Schedules, 2017). As I stated earlier the amount of retired nurses is going to increase which allows more placements of possible high positions with the amount of work experience. Half of all nurses are near retirement age and need more nurses to fill these positions. “The Nurse Journal says that “according to a 2013 survey conducted by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing and The Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers, 55% of the RN workforce is age 50 or older” (Nursing Shortage, 2017). One of the main causes for a shortage of nurses is