Nursing Shortage The shortage of nurses has gradually increased throughout the years. This shortage has taken a toll on patients, prospective nursing students, and faculty members. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, “In 2012, United States nursing schools turned away 79,659 qualified applicants from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs” (American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2014, para. 5). Unfortunately, even though there is a high number of students wanting to enter the nursing field there are not enough instructors to educate and train the students properly due to the low pay incentive for nursing professors. According to Brown (2015), “Clinical settings offer higher salaries than …show more content…
The purpose this paper is to identify the cause and effect the nursing shortages has on the population locally and globally. Included in this paper is a review of the literature related to nursing shortage and the negative effects it has on the healthcare system and education faculty. Based on several studies, there are several incentives to decreasing the shortage and increasing the nursing population, followed by a brief conclusion. Review of Literature A scholarly search was conducted to select the most relevant articles related to nursing shortages. The search was initiated through the use of electronic databases CINAHL and MEDLINE, and professional organizations websites. Keywords for the search included: nursing shortage, impact, hospitals, prevention, patient outcomes, nursing faculty shortage, and the United States. The original search produced 606 articles. The search was further narrowed by selecting only academic journals or research articles with full text available for the years 2008 through 2015. Sixteen journal articles were reviewed. Five of these articles were selected for involvement in the review of literature section of this paper based on the types of research design. Below is a summary of the sources used. Qualitative Nursing Shortage Research Nardi and Gyurko (2013) used
Nursing shortage has been a global problem that need to be eradicated in order to promote patient care and improve care outcomes. Nursing shortage in America has caused a lot of negative impact on the nurses, patients and nursing profession. It has caused a lot of dissatisfaction on the part of the nurses and the patients (Nardi & Gyurko, 2013). Nurses are prone to injuries, stress and burn-out as a result of nursing shortages. They engaged in working long hours to compensate their coworkers and ensure completion of assigned jobs. They end up breaking down emotionally, physically and psychologically due to poor work-environment and
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
The demand for full time nurses is continuing to boom in the global market (Buerhaus, Auerbach, & Staiger, 2009). However, the unfortunate shortage of nurses in the global scenario is undeniable (Hunt, 2009). The rate at which nurses are graduating from universities today does not sufficiently quench the ever growing demand for nursing professionals. The issue of providing an active replacement for the nurses who have left their respective organization continues to be a source of main concern for health care institutions.
The third shortage is the understanding that nurses are needed to deliver care. "The current situation in the United States may, to some extent, reflect this type of shortage, since recent hospital restructuring has often entailed nurse short-staffing that seems to reflect a lack of awareness on the part of some decision-makers that an adequate quantity of skilled nursing is needed (What is the nursing shortage and why does it exist?., 18 October, 2007)." The fourth shortage is the nurse education and empowerment shortage. This is a big problem in today's situation. Many of the nursing educators are nearing retirement, and the lack of empowerment and encouragement to obtain further education is the main cause. In society, how are we supposed to produce more Registered Nurses if there is a large lack of qualified educators to assist and coach them through education and training?
There are a number of factors that contribute to the impact of the nursing shortage.
The US healthcare system is no stranger to nursing shortages. It is a recurring problem we have been faced with for the past seven decades. However, what we will be faced with between now and 2025 is a predicament of far greater proportion than ever encountered before. “Considering the impact this prolonged shortage will have on the USA health care system, nursing and other health-related organizations have even brought their concerns to lawmakers in the central government for immediate consideration” (Janiszewski Goodin 335). This quote is from 2003 and sadly, the state of today’s nursing shortage is still blatantly apparent. Not necessarily because nothing was done back in 2003 to fix it, but
Why the dramatic shortfall in nurses? There are at least ten influencing factors associated with this looming crisis, and
The United States healthcare industry faces many challenges everyday, such as the rising cost of care, medical errors, access and quality problems etc. Within the next few years, the United States will experience a shortage of Register Nurses (RNs). “Registered Nurses are considered one of the largest health professions in the health care industry. The Nurses duty is to provide direct patient care and can be done in a hospital, public health facility, nursing home and many other different settings. Other services included are patient education on disease prevention, administering treatments and promoting a healthy lifestyle.” ("The Future of the Nursing Workforce: National- and State- Level Projections 2012-2025”) The shortage will occur due to Baby Boomers aging and the demand for health care will dramatically rise. With the baby boomers aging, Registered Nurses are at the top of the list for demand in health care. Unfortunately the supply and demand does not meet. “According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Projections 2012-2022 released in December 2013, RNs will increase of about 526,800 within that time frame but will still have job openings of 1.05 million by 2020)”("Nursing Shortage") Indicating that there is no growth between 2012- 2022. There are multiple factors to this shortage and one of them is that nursing schools across the nation are struggling to increase the capacity of students to meet the rising demand. Considering the fact
to the importance of nursing shortage and impact on health system. This paper has discussed
Qualified instructors available to teach nursing students in educational facilities are beginning to be a problem within the nation. Most nursing instructors that teach in educational facilities are advanced in their line of work, and many of them are expected to retire within the next five years. New faculty of nursing programs will be in priority when the number of retirees increases (Rosenfeld, 2009).
Globally, there is a declared nursing shortage. Countries across the world are scrambling to produce nursing graduates to fill the barren nursing
The supply of nurses is not sufficient to meet the current demand, and the shortage is projected to grow further as future demand increases. Most corresponding factors that are affecting the supply of nurses are also impacting the quantity of nurse educators. Therefore, the understaffing of nursing educators is also impacting the amount of nursing students available.
According to Wikipedia, Nursing shortage refers to a situation where the demand for nursing professionals, such as Registered Nurses (RNs), exceeds the supply—locally (e.g., within a health care facility), nationally or globally. It can be measured, for instance, when the nurse-to-patient ratio, the nurse-to-population ratio, or the number of job openings necessitates a higher number of nurses than currently available. This situation is observed in developed and developing nations around the world (Nursing shortage, n.d).
Improving education and training is one of the strategies to address nursing shortage. Increase in federal funding to compensate current faculties and graduate students faculty is essential in addressing the issues. This will decrease vacancy rates and help to improve workload. Development of a program among regional and statewide nursing schools is another factor to consider. This promotes joint efforts with faculties allowing them to make use of resources efficiently which also assist in students nurse advancement. Moreover, it
According to Paller (2012), the nursing shortage in different countries for example the United States tends not to be the only growing problem, but has also become a complex one. Nursing shortage and nurse's turnover has become the worsening predicament in the health care industry in the United