Annotated Bibliography of Articles about Nursing

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.

Registered nurses are an integral part of the healthcare system, and make up the largest number of healthcare professionals. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2015) “The employment rate for registered nurses is expected to grow by 16% between 2014 and 2024”. This is more than double the average rate of growth for a profession. The rapid growth rate can be attributed in part to better management of chronic diseases and the baby boomer generation. The growth in the nursing profession is paramount, however the demographics of the nursing population does not mirror the demographics of the population served.

The national shortage of Registered Nurses (RNs) has helped generate formidable interest in the nursing profession among people entering the workforce and those pursuing a career change. According to a report issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service in 2002, the national population is continuing to grow and age and medical services continue to advance, so the need for nurses will continue to increase. They report from 2000 to 2020 the predicted shortage of nurses is expected to grow to 29 percent, compared to a 6 percent shortage in 2000. With the projected supply, demand, and shortage of registered nurses and nursing salaries ever-increasing, the nursing profession can offer countless opportunities. But first one must

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

An article in the Health Marketing Quarterly written by Mark Somers, Linda Finch, and Dee Birnbaum (university instructors in schools of management, nursing and business fields in the U.S.) asserts that the nursing shortages of "highly trained nurses and of nursing faculty" is close to a level that could be termed a "crisis" (Somers, et al, 2010). The expected gap between supply and demand will expand to more than a million nurses by 2020, Somers explains, which is twice the shortfall had had been projected just two years prior to this article's publication (292).

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

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has just released a new study highlighting the steps 12 states are taking to prevent a looming crisis in nursing. Experts predict the United States could be short more than 260,000 nurses by 2025 and the study authors say state-level partnerships must take the lead in addressing the problem. The scarce supply and shortage of nursing staff has become a matter of sincere concern for healthcare organizations across the nation. The demand for healthcare services is increasing and requires healthcare organizations to employ qualified and well trained nursing staff.

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.

With over 2 million jobs, registered nurses represent the largest health care occupation (Windle, 2008, p. 209). Although nurses are the biggest health care occupation, there continues to be a shortage in the United States. The shortage has worsened because of rising healthcare costs and a focus on cost containment, which has negatively impacted nurse work environments (Keeler and Cramer, 2007, p. 350). With demand for healthcare expecting to continue to increase and financial pressures becoming more burdensome, these shortages will likely become even more critical in coming years if not adequately addressed (Love et al., 2006, p. 558). The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates 1.2 million nurses will be required to fill new and vacated nursing positions by the end of 2014 (Windle, 2008, p. 209).

A third contributing factor to the crisis our nation faces are the nursing education systems. The nursing education systems include the nursing students, nursing educators, and nursing schools. When it comes to the nursing students the enrollment rates are far below the necessary amount needed to help the current nursing crisis. The current enrollment number is at 300,000 students, but in order to help the shortage this number needs to increase to 400,000 students (Stanton, 2016). Sadly even though an increase is needed the AACN found that enrollment rates dropped 4.6% at the turn of the century and they have yet to see any increase since then (Benjamin, 2000, p. 2).

As the United States’ population ages and the Affordable Care Act continues to be implemented the need to address the shortage of nurses and faculty is more pressing than it ever has been. However, this is multi-dimensional problem, to get to the crux of it; one has to ask what the major contributing factors to such shortages are and what can be done to prevent them? Perhaps the most significant influence to the nursing shortage is the fact that each year a large number of qualified applicants are denied entrance because of a lack of prepared nurse educators (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2014). Equally as troubling, if not more so, is according to a 2014 survey by the AACN there is already a 8.3% faculty vacancy, coupled with the age of professors with doctorates being 61.3 and master’s degrees 57.2; it is evident that the time to act was yesterday (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2014). Because of statistics like this, one would surmise there would have long been a huge emphasis on how to encourage, and give incentive, to nurses to get advanced degrees and into the faculty role. However, the opposite it actually the reality, over the last decade, there has been decreased attention in nursing faculty development and financial support (Reinhard & Hassmiller, 2011). As the number of people who need care is sure to increase so too is the deficit of nursing faculty, which in turn will

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

A continuous shortage of nursing has been the attention in the nation for many years. A significant contributor to the decline of quality care is the shortage of registered nurses. “Registered Nurses are the largest population of health care professionals” (AACN, 2014) and still there is shortage of nurses. Nurses play a pivotal role in patient care in hospitals, long term care facilities, community, hospice, schools, and at home. The care nurses provide is directly linked to the cost, availability and the quality of healthcare. Education, practice, recruitment and retention are the four main categories associated with shortage of nursing. “Under the Title VIII of the Public Health Service Act, Nursing workforce development programs has helped decrease the nursing shortage and evidently improve the quality of patient care (AACN, 2014).”

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