Nursing Shortage in the Health Care

Between 1992 to 2002

The number of emergency departments has increased dramatically; the estimated growth is more than 24%, covering a population rise from 89 to 111 million visits in emergency departments per year. The scarcity of nurses in the health care system is causing an increase in the number of visits each year (Keenan & Kennedy, 2003).

Many research have been conducted

to answer the problem of the causes and consequences of nurse shortages in healthcare. Most of the research agree that Registered Nurses covers the largest population in the healthcare with over 2.3 million jobs, according to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization (JCAHO), over one hundred and twenty-six nursing positions are not occupied in the hospitals. It is speculated that the number of nursing shortage will have increased by twenty percent by 2020 (USA Department of Labor, 2015).

Factors Resulting in Nursing Shortage

The following factors have influenced the shortage of nurses in the past years:

The Aging Population in Nursing

According to USA Department of Labor (2015), the highest number of health professionals is the registered nurses. Since the early 1960s and 1970s, the enrollment rate of women in the nursing field was very high. However, the rate of women enrollment has been declining due to the shift of women career to male dominated fields that accommodate women in the current generation (USA Department of Labor, 2015). Also, the numbers of middle aged registered nurses that are employed are reaching the retirement, thus, the high experienced nurses with skills and tech-know-how will be leaving the healthcare at a higher rate when the demand for nurses is highly needed. Also, it is speculated that there will be more than 18% increase in population that will require an increment of more than 54% nurses to provide the services (Buerhaus, Staiger, & Auerbach, 2000).

Stress

Increased workload, poor management, internal conflict, and emotional cost of caring are the main stressors in the recent nursing profession. Page and Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on the Work Environment for Nurses and Patient Safety (2004), argue that evaluating stress is very complicated especially in a broad field such as nursing, yet the efficacy of organizational measures eliminate or reduce the root causes of stress relies upon a great understanding of stress phenomenon in nursing. Besides, the insufficient personnel in the nursing profession lead to stress since the workload increases, thus, nurses strain a lot in serving the ever increasing number of patients, therefore, the majority of nurses experience job dissatisfaction and most of the nurses opt for other jobs that are less straining and satisfy their needs. The shortage of nurses poses a risk in huge problem on their quality of job life, quality of patient care and the quality of time that nurses spend with their patients, thus, affecting the care the patients receive and increase stress in nurses leading to resignation in nursing profession and finding a better job (Page & Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on the Work Environment for Nurses and Patient Safety, 2004).

Inadequate Facilities in Nursing Schools

The inadequate personnel and facilities in nursing results to a lower number of students enrolled in nursing schools to match the available resources, thus, many students that are interested in studying nursing are turned away. For instance, more than seventy-nine thousand students have declined the opportunity to study nursing due to the insufficient facilities in nursing school (AACN, 2012).

Effects of Nursing Shortage to Patient Care

One of the major problems is the increased admission rate in hospitals. Nursing shortage results to high admission rate since, the personnel caring for the patient is less that the number of patients visiting the hospital. Rossetter (2007) argues that increasing patient’s workload leads to readmission in hospitals for the patient to receive the medical care required. Also, nursing shortage leads to high infections among the patients, this is due to overcrowding that leads to spread of diseases due to sharing of bed, and poor sanitation since the number of patients exceeds the nursing personnel. Furthermore, the patients will receive inadequate care since the nurse will attend to many patients most especially the patients that need emergency care and the rest will get very minimal care that may worsen the situation. Insufficient nursing personnel results to a poor quality of services and unsafe condition for the patient.

Strategies to Overcome the Nursing Shortage

Expansion to Accommodate more Nurses

Increasing the number of funding towards the nursing education will highly increase the enrollment of nursing students in the field. A nursing career is bit expensive and subsidizing the cost will encourage students to enroll (Keenan & Kennedy, 2003) Besides, intensive training should be implemented to motivate the new nurses as well as prepare them for health changes in future, training on the use of recent technology more so in communication and management will be essential in the nursing sector and health delivery (Keenan & Kennedy, 2003).

Besides, recruiting nurses from other countries will be able to solve the issue of the nursing shortage in the United States, allowing nurses with temporary visas and work permit will solve the ever increasing number of patient population that are higher than the personnel employed.

Increasing the Wages of the Nurses

Having an attractive in nursing wages will engage the attention of many students since the salary can meet their personal needs. Many people are attracted to high wage industry, thus, having a favorable salary will resolve the issue of opting for a well-paying job and sticking to the current job since it meets the needs and satisfaction of nurses (Keenan & Kennedy, 2003).

Expansion of Nursing Schools

In the recent years many students have been turned away due to inadequate personnel and facilities in nursing schools, thus, limited students are enrolled which does not meet up the number of the patient population, therefore, expansion projects for nursing schools will motivate students to apply as well as accommodated in the institutions; hence, the population will be able to cover the high population of patients that need medical attention as well as promoting quality health care and improved quality work life for nurses (Keenan & Kennedy, 2003).

Conclusion

The issue of the nursing shortage is on the rise and the effect has been felt the patient, since, the problem of poor quality in health delivery, increase rate of infection and admission is posing a threat in the nursing sector. A major step needs to be taken to reduce the problem and ensuring that health delivery is improved including satisfaction of nurses in their line of duty.

References

American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). (2012). Published data reports. Retrieved on April 24, 2017 from: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/research-data/about-data-center

Buerhaus P. I., Staiger, D. O., & Auerbach, D. I. (2000) Implications of an aging registered nurse workforce. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 283(22), 2948–2954

Keenan, P., & Kennedy, J. F. (2003). The nursing workforce shortage: Causes, consequences, proposed solutions. Issue Brief (Commonw Fund), 619, 1-8.

Page, A., & Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on the Work Environment for Nurses and Patient Safety. (2004). Keeping patients safe: Transforming the work environment of nurses. National Academies Press.

Rossetter, R. (2007). Impact of nurse staffing on patient care. Retrieved on April 24, 2017 from: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media-relations/fact-sheets/nursing-shortage

USA Department of Labor. (2015). Registered nurses. Occupational Outlook Handbook. Retrieved on April 24, 2017 from: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/registered-nurses.htm