Topic: Discuss the events that have contributed (or will continue to contribute) to the nursing shortage, or that contribute to a shortage in a region or specialty. Discuss at least one way that the nursing profession is currently working toward a resolution of this problem.
example 1 (Kristen)
Several factors have contributed to the nursing shortage, which will continue exacerbating it. These factors include a changing demographic, an increasingly aging population that requires more healthcare services, an aging nursing workforce that is retiring, shortages of nursing school faculty, and limited enrollment that is not increasing fast enough to meet the demand for RNs and APRNs (Whitney, 2022). Additionally, increased stress levels related to insufficient staffing affect job satisfaction and cause many nurses to leave the bedside or the profession entirely (Whitney, 2022). The nursing profession, through employers and advocacy groups, is actively engaged in implementing a range of strategies to mitigate the challenges presented by the current nursing shortage. These efforts encompass targeted recruitment initiatives to attract more individuals to the profession, the provision of competitive hiring packages and benefits, the establishment of externship programs that provide support to new grads, tuition reimbursement for nurses who desire to advance their education, and the creation of supportive work environments (Firth, 2022). Furthermore, nursing schools are working to expand their capacity and devise innovative educational programs to cultivate a larger pool of qualified nurses (AACN, n.d.).
These comprehensive efforts aim to address the current shortage and work towards the establishment of a sustainable and resilient nursing workforce for the future.
References
AACN. (n.d). Nursing Shortage Fact Sheet. https://www.aacnnursing.org/news-data/fact-sheets/…
Firth, S. (2022, May 11). More support needed to shore up nurse pipeline, experts say. Medical News. https://www.medpagetoday.com/nursing/nursing/98663
Whitney, S. (2022). The Future of Nursing in an Evolving Healthcare System. In Trends in Helathcare: A Nursing Perspective (2nd ed., pp. 6–14). essay, Grand Canyon University. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
example 2 (Austin) The nursing profession faces a critical shortage globally, driven by several interrelated factors, with concerted efforts underway to mitigate this crisis. An aging demographic across many societies has led to a surge in healthcare demands, particularly as older individuals often present more complex medical needs (Tamata et al., 2023). Concurrently, the nursing workforce itself is aging, with a significant portion nearing retirement age, and the physical and emotional toll of the job, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has precipitated burnout and early exits from the profession.
Educational constraints further compound the issue. Nursing programs frequently encounter a surplus of qualified applicants but lack the capacity to enroll them, in part due to a shortage of faculty. This educational bottleneck restricts the flow of new nurses into the field. Additionally, the shortage is not uniform; rural areas and certain specializations, such as geriatric care, are disproportionately affected due to less attractive working conditions and opportunities.
In response, multifaceted strategies are being implemented. These include expanding nursing education through online learning and increasing faculty numbers, improving workplace conditions to enhance retention, and leveraging technology to reduce administrative tasks (Haddad et al., 2023). Governments and healthcare institutions are also implementing policies to improve staffing ratios and incentivize work in underserved areas, alongside international recruitment to address immediate needs. Promotional campaigns aim to attract new entrants to the field, emphasizing the profession’s diversity and potential for impact. Collectively, these efforts represent a holistic approach to addressing the nursing shortage, aiming to ensure a sustainable and effective healthcare workforce for the future.
Reference
Tamata, A. T., & Mohammadnezhad, M. (2023). A systematic review study on the factors affecting shortage of nursing workforce in the hospitals. Nursing open, 10(3), 1247–1257. https://doi.org/10.1002/nop2.1434
Haddad LM, Annamaraju P, Toney-Butler TJ. Nursing Shortage. [2023 Feb 13]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493175/
Examples 3 ( chidiman )
Nurses do a wide range of additional tasks in addition to giving sick patients medical attention, making them a crucial part of the healthcare sector. Despite this, they are seen as having a major dearth of skill. The patient’s rate of recovery and long-term health outcomes are determined by the quality of the nurses’ care. However, there has been a definite trend toward a scarcity of nurses, making it harder for nurses to offer patients the care they demand. An increase in workload, a change in the nurse-to-patient ratio, and missed appointments are just a few of the ways that the nursing shortage problem impacts patient care quality. Hospitals and the whole nation are influenced by the problems of maintaining a regular and sufficient supply of nurses. Several aspects, such as practice autonomy, management respect, workload, involvement in decision-making, flexible scheduling, education, and income, influence the retention of registered nurses. If hospitals don’t maintain qualified registered nurses on staff, they face the threat of losing informed and experienced personnel. Hospital productivity will also drop throughout this shift (Griffiths et al., 2018).
One of the difficulties generating the nursing shortage is the difficulty of attracting qualified, young nurses. Nursing myths are one of the reasons young people don’t consider nursing as a profession. There is a shortage of nurses as a result of several causes and effects. As the population ages, there is a rising need for healthcare services like registered nurses. The lack of nurses has increased the burden on nurses. Patients’ safety is at stake owing to nurse exhaustion brought on by the increased task. Nurses may prioritize some elements of care over others owing to limited staffing levels, deferring or dismissing other nursing services as a consequence. Missed nursing care refers to all required patient care that is forgone or delayed. For the patient to recover, the nurses’ care must be successful. When there aren’t enough staff members present, presumably, a nurse won’t be able to provide patients with the full degree of care they demand. As a consequence, there are evident implications on patient outcomes, including medication errors, pressure sores, and patient falls previously discussed. Errors, increased rates of illness and mortality, and a scarcity of nurses are all connected. Nurses in hospitals with high patient-to-nurse ratios report feeling overworked and unsatisfied, and patient death and failure-to-rescue rates are greater there (Nakweenda et al., 2022).
Due to the serious shortage, governments have studied many techniques to recruit and retain nurses. Reduced licensing requirements, revised practice area boundaries, additional training choices, and monetary incentives are merely a few of the various policy levers. More effort is being done to promote the acceptability of nursing students by academic institutions (Samuel & Oliver, 2021).
Reference
Griffiths, P., Maruotti, A., Recio Saucedo, A., Redfern, O. C., Ball, J. E., Briggs, J., Dall’Ora, C., Schmidt, P. E., & Smith, G. B. (2018). Nurse staffing, nursing assistants and hospital mortality: retrospective longitudinal cohort study. BMJ Quality &Amp; Safety, 28(8), 609–617. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2018-008043
Nakweenda, M., Anthonie, R., & van der Heever, M. (2022). Staff shortages in critical care units: Critical care nurses experiences. International Journal of Africa Nursing Sciences, 17, 100412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijans.2022.100412
Samuel, B., & Oliver, N. (2021). The US Nursing Shortage: Opportunity to Close the Gap. Consultant. https://doi.org/10.25270/con.2021.07.00004
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