Nursing Workforce : Emerging Nurse Shortages

With a shortage of nurses, the care and safety of patients may become compromised. The nurses themselves may be having feelings of dissatisfaction, overwhelm and distress. Nurses who may become overwhelmed with the high number of patients may become frustrated and burnt out. And inadequate staff of nurses may lead to a negative impact on the patient’s outcome. The quality of care the patients may receive in facilities with low staffing may be poor.

The nursing shortage has been influenced by the aging workforce, shortage of nursing faculty, professional alternatives, poor working conditions and poor nursing image. By 2020, there will be an increase in demand for registered nurses (RNs) due to the increase need for healthcare services to meet the needs of the baby boom generation (Keenan & Kennedy, 2003). It is estimated that the nursing shortage will range from 400,000 to 808,000 full-time equivalents (FTE) RNs. The nursing shortage has impacted the intensive care units (ICU), medical surgical units and operating rooms (Keenan & Kennedy).

There are many issues that affect the profession of nursing, for decades one issue that affects the nursing profession is the nursing shortage in the United States (U.S.). Even though the nursing shortage in the U.S. remains during the Great Recession of 2007 many older nurses did not retire as one normally would have while other nurses came out of retirement to help support their families (Snavely, 2016). According to Juraschek, Zhang, Ranganathan, and Lin (2012), starting in 2003 the age group of forty-five to fifty-four replaced the age group of thirty-five to forty-four as having the largest number of working registered nurses. Furthermore, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2015) states the number of jobs available for registered nurses (RNs) is expected to grow by sixteen percent by the year 2024, which equals 439,300 RN positions in the United States. However, some regions of the United States are going to be affected more by the increase in need for RNs leading to a nursing shortage in these regions of the U.S. Moreover, the nursing shortage is going to have a negative impact on patient care, nurse satisfaction, and health care cost which further exacerbating the nursing shortage (Snavely,2016). Factors contributing to a nursing shortage in regions across the U.S. are :1) aging nurses retiring as the recession ends, 2) nurses who re-entered the workforce due to the recession are leaving the profession or returning to working part-time, 3) the aging baby boomer

The Nursing Profession has been experiencing shortages for many years. The pattern seems to be repetitive, high demand for nurses followed by phases of downsizing with a surplus of nurses. The earlier years of the nursing shortage was short compared to today’s current nursing shortage. The nursing shortage exist globally and in all nursing areas. There are several factors that are the cause of the nursing shortage of today as well in years past.

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

Nurses make up the majority of health care staffing with over 4 million active registered nurses in the United States. Nurses are responsible for quality patient care and constantly monitoring and assessing their patients and are often providing the majority of patient care. With such a large impact on patients and their care, it is alarming to know there is shortage of nurses both state and nationwide. The demand for nurses is high but the supply is low. This is currently one of our nation’s largest health care issues. If it is not addressed, it will not only affect our current health care system but also the economic health of our nation’s future. There are several key factors that contribute to the nursing shortage; an increase in nurses who are retiring from the work field, there is a decrease in nursing educational resources and opportunities leading in to a lower number of new graduated nurses and a high level of staff turnover. An increase in nursing shortages results in decreased quality patient care and increased risk to patients.

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.

After reviewing various literature regarding nursing shortages, there is a national problem. Huber speaks about the nursing shortages and discusses various contributors and strategies to fix the issues (2014). The various contributors would be nursing graduate numbers, aging nurses, and nursing recruitment/retention (Huber D. , 2014). There are currently not enough students graduating nursing school, this is due to limited faculty restricting enrollments, more push for bachelor prepared nurses, and minimal school budgets (Huber D. , 2014). For nurse’s demographics, Huber describes it as an aging population with more retiring and the median nursing age increasing (2014). This is described as the graying factor (Huber D. , 2014). Recruitment

As an RN you will convey and ensure patient care by surveying and diagnosing patient's condition, creating an arrangement of consideration and assessing understanding's reaction to give a second thought. You will likewise take an interest in patient training and release arranging and work together with, direction and aide assigned consideration colleagues in arranging patient care and accomplishing objectives.

through the wound care being performed and missed a major step in caring for that patient, leading to infection. The effect of increased nurses to patients has been shown many times to improve patients’ outcome.

The nursing shortage and provision of safe nursing care is a significant problem in all countries, and it affects nurses in all practice areas ranging from the bedside nurse to the boardroom. Inadequate nurse staffing levels by experienced Registered Nurses (RNs) is linked to poor health outcomes and higher costs. The reductions in nursing budgets, combined with the challenges presented by a growing nursing shortage has resulted in fewer bedside nurses working longer hours and care for high acuity patients. This situation compromises care and contributes further to the nursing shortage by creating an environment that drives nurses from the bedside.

Nursing shortages are appearing to be a global concern as well. The shortage of nurses has caused a widespread and dangerous deficiency of experienced nurses who are needed to care for individual patients as well as the population as a whole. According to an article written by Littlejohn (2012) the nursing shortage needs appropriate intervention in order to prevent a serious public health crisis. Nursing is one of the largest groups of healthcare professionals whose has over 3.1 million Registered Nurses, but there are still not enough to care for the growing number of patients. AMN (2012) Study by Hecker (2004) suggested that in the year 2012 there would be a deficit of more than one million nurses. The shortage of nurses has put the patient as well as nurses at an increased risk for injury.

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

In 1860, Florence's dream was finally realized when the Nightingale Training School for Nurses opened. This was the first formal, fully organized training program for nurses. Graduates of the program went into the four corners of the world to teach other nurses and were highly sought by hospitals. While Florence Nightingale did not invent the profession of nursing, she was a living memorial to it and forever will have a place and influence in the history of nursing.

The nursing shortage is no longer a projected problem in the healthcare industry in the United States, this problem is present and is not phasing out anytime soon. Addressing this challenge would improve job satisfaction, reduce burnout in the profession and ultimately improve retention.