Shortage Of Nurses And Health Care

There are a number of factors that contribute to the impact of the nursing shortage.

Another growing issue that Canada faces in regard to the state of its healthcare is the global shortage of physicians and nurses. With the population continually getting larger, and older, medical personnel, in particular nurses, are becoming completely overwhelmed. Not only is the global nursing shortage having a negative effect on patients, nurses are being overworked to compensate for lack of staff. Since 2002, “...the nursing shortage has been termed a global crisis.”. (Sage Publications). The “supply and demand” of nurses must be met appropriately to ensure the future of Canada’s current healthcare

The nursing shortage is an accumulation of multiple factors. The four primary contributions to the shortage include the aging registered nurse workforce, declining nursing school enrollments, the changing work climate, and the poor image of nursing (Love et al., 2006, p. 558). When it comes to the aging workforce, approximately one-third of the nursing workforce was over 50 years of age in 2000 and that fraction has increased to two-fifths in 2014 (Nevidjon and Erickson, 2001). Over half of registered nurses intend to retire between 2011 and 2020

The American healthcare system is severely impacted by the shortage of nursing personnel. According to the American Nurses Association (2014), the nursing shortage has compromised patient safety, patient care and patient health outcomes. The nursing shortage can also cause medical errors, result in fatigue, injury and job dissatisfaction. The nursing shortage has been influenced by several factors. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the factors that influence nursing shortage in the U.S, present two strategies to address the issue and my personal recommendation.

Identify and describe at least three of the most difficult issues facing health care in the United States today.

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.

We hear nurse’s talk about how rewarding their profession is but what they seldom talk about is how it can be very challenging as well. There seems to be many issues existing in the nursing profession. One of the most affective issues in nursing is the decreasing number of staff nurses. With inadequate staffing, nurses are demanded to have more responsibilities thus causing more stress on the nurse. This increase in responsibility causes nurses to neglect many aspects of their patients’ care. Patient care is suffering from the shortage of nurses as there is an increase in adverse patient outcomes due to the shortage. Also, there is evidence that there is a positive relationship between the number of staff and the effectiveness of their teamwork. The more staff available the more likely nurses will work together as a team. A new act is being implemented to help with the nursing shortage. This act is called the National Nursing Shortage Reform and Patient Advocacy Act. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the issue of nursing shortage and how the National Nursing Shortage Reform and Patient Advocacy Act is an example of evidence-based practice.

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

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

Nursing shortages have always occurred in cycles. Recently, the shortage has become worse due to the implications of managed care as a way of controlling escalating health care costs. While the shortage did ease some during the recession of 2009, there is still a shortage in some areas of the country (Cherry & Jacob, 2014). Increased student enrollments and government policies have helped with the shortage, but the occupational outlook for nursing jobs is expected to grow faster than any other occupation through 2018. So it is essential that the supply of nurses increases to keep up with the demand. The current shortage is due to several factors. First, new nurses are needed to replace “baby boomers” who will be retiring in the near future. Second, as the population ages, there will be a demand for more healthcare, leading to a demand for more nurses. Third, new advances in patient care will lead to more people in the healthcare system needing more specialized care, and lastly, the affordable care act places a large emphasis on preventive care, leading to more people desiring wellness visits (Cherry & Jacob, 2014). Finally, according to Dall’Ora, Chiara, Griffiths, Peter, Ball, Jane, Simon, Michael Aiken, Linda H. (2015), “shifts lasting 12 hours or longer were associated with a 40 percent greater level of job dissatisfaction and a 31 percent higher risk of planning to quit. Job satisfaction and burnout in the nursing workforce are global

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

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

Judith (2005) describes that the issue of nurse shortage have negative influence on the field of health care in numerous countries, including UK. A critical shortage of registered nurses exists in the UK and has been a continuous issue for the past decade. For example London still have more than eight thousands of posts vacant for graduated nursing students, which means London hospital, was faced with serious nursing shortage. NHS claims that they are working hard to increase the amounts of nursing staff to solve the problem of staffing shortage. David (2015) researched that nurse vacancy rates are running at 7% in the NHS during past two years. Therefore, NHS employed a lot of International nurses to work in UK hospitals and health care agency (Campbell, 2014). The NHS (2014) data showed that one in five new nurses come from oversea in UK hospitals, it is a big increase employed from outside the UK. Ball (2012) explained that nursing shortage is not a simple problem and the government should be more attention on this phenomenon.

(Kimball & O’ Nell, 2002) defined nursing shortage as an overarching imbalance of supplying and demand attributed to demographics, qualifications, availability, and willingness to do the work. Nursing shortage by this definition is associated with a difference in two variables, demand for nursing care and the supply available to patients who require nursing care.