Health Care Needs Grow: A Nursing Study

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

There are many major challenges facing the nursing shortage environment today. One of those challenges includes the facility recruitment of registered nurses and then the facility retention of the registered nurses that they have recruited. Factors to consider would be as to why a registered nurse chose to accept a particular job and will they choose to stay at the facility after being given an employment opportunity. A facility’s reputation, union status, autonomy and salary are among some of the factors that influence recruitment. Factors that influence retention includes the inclusion in decision making, practice

The U.S. nursing shortage had been a serious issue for quite sometime now and continues to escalate. As the nursing workforce continues to age, nurses leave the profession faster than they can be replaced and the crisis continues to grow. Nurses are leaving for different reasons. What is being done to solve the nursing shortage here in the United States? Nursing recruitment and retention is one of many solutions that can alleviate this problem.

The aging nursing workforce has become a worldwide crisis for many countries. The average age of an employed nurse in the United States was 47 years old. More than one-third of the nursing workforce is aged between 50 and 64 years old. While recruiting new graduates is essential to any healthcare systems retaining older nurses and extending out their retirement projections is essential to staff a hospital’s current needs. (Sherman,

Moreover, RN retention is essential for the current and future workforce management. Currently at 10%, the University District (UD) enjoys a low voluntary turnover rate when compared to the national average of 17.1% (Nursing Solutions Inc., 2016). According to Dr. Farber, there are no current retention strategies, however, the UD is a small hospital with an extremely collaborative, communicative, and engaged administration. Promotion and fostering of a health work environment through effective leadership, such as seen at UD, significantly influences nurse retention (Blake, Leach, Robbins, Pike, & Needleman, 2013).

Hospitals and other healthcare facilities invest time and money when searching for qualified nursing personnel. This time-consuming and costly process involves position advertisement, candidate search, interview and hiring procedures, and training. The investment of hiring a new nurse exceeds that of maintaining current nurses employed. Nurse retention correlates to continued hands-on practice and improvement of clinical techniques; thus, benefiting patient care. Cabral et al. (2016) note that although finances and staffing may decrease in the future healthcare environment, providing compassionate stability and support to nurses, as it is given to patients, creates a culture of caring and fosters retention. Hopefully, effective training of

Imagine staying in a hospital- weak, helpless, and in pain, and there isn’t a nurse near to assist. The majority of whom, who have stayed in a hospital have already faced this terrifying issue. Without the help, and care from nurses in the health care system, the health care system would ultimately fail. There are not enough nurses to care for the amount of people that are staying in the hospitals, which directly affects patient care. Here in America today, we are facing the most colossal nursing shortage to have ever existed. There are a variety of solutions that can be done to disperse this soon to be catastrophe. The demand for nurses will forever be in high demand due to the constant advances in

Rondeau et al. (2008) reported that lack of awareness pertaining to the significant changes of employee market factors in nursing turnover and vacancy. Effective and efficient nurses retention strategies are some of the ways to handle with turnover in healthcare organizations, not all reasons for turnover are employer

A fascinating study by Cottingham, DiBartolo, Battistoni, and Brown (2011) evaluated the efficacy of a mentoring program implemented for new nurses in rural regions to combat the nursing shortage. Each new graduate joining the workforce was assigned an experienced nurse who would serve as a mentor to them (Cottingham et al., 2011). At the completion of the study, the program was deemed a significant success, as nurse retention was, indeed, an outcome after one year of implementation. Additionally, implementing nurse mentors proved to be an excellent way to grow the leadership potential of the new graduate nurses (Cottingham et al., 2011). Thus, this is one potential approach to both nursing retention and succession.

The nursing shortage can have an enormous impact in the healthcare system. If we continue to see a decline in nurses, the healthcare system could potentially crumble. Nurses are the majority of the hospital and clinical settings and help take care of the ill patients. According to Kovner, Brewer, Fatehi, and Jun (2014), there is a poor working environment seen there are companies with an increased turnover rate. The challenges are the decreased ability to hire enough nursing staff to keep up with the demand of patients. Some of the problems are due to the fact that many of the RN’s today are reaching retirement age, the lack of faculty, and the

Prevention measures are readily available and can be used to reduce nurse retention rates. Multiple studies have been conducted consisting of various surveys that evaluate the reasoning behind nurses leaving the profession completely, their intention to leave the healthcare facility or department, and factors contributing to burnout. By identifying the factors and weak points of the healthcare facilities from the results of the surveys conducted in each study, ideas of implementations arise in efforts

Shirey (2006) estimates that in 2020, 67,200 nurse manager vacancies will exist across the United States. The NCHL predicts a decrease in leadership talent over the next few years. Compounding the leadership crisis is a lack of interest from novice nurses in nursing management, as well as evidence that senior nurse officers report difficulty recruiting and filling nurse manager positions (American Organization of Nurse Executives [AONE], 2003). Also, the current average age of nursing leaders in the United States is 50 years old. The anticipated retirement of these individuals will further reduce nurse manager levels, emphasizing the need for nurse manager succession planning (Thompson, 2008).

Hospitals nationwide are experiencing nurse shortage and increased workloads because of shorter hospital stays, fewer support resources and higher acuity in patients (Vahey, D. C., Aiken, L. H., Sloane, D. M., Clarke, S. P., & Vargas, D., 2004). Higher nurse workloads are directly associated with job burnout and job dissatisfaction which in turn causes more voluntary nurse turnover and relates to the increased nursing shortage. According to the Missouri Hospital Association the turnover rate of nurses has increased by fourteen percent in the last five years (Browning M., 2012). Nursing shortage is a real threat to the patient population. According to the Quality Health Outcomes Model by the American Academy of Nursing by Donabedian, effects of the healthcare interventions are characterized by the environment the staff works in (Vahey et al., 2004). Donabedian describes that quality metrics can be divided into three broad categories, structural, process, and clinical.

His aim was to identify factors that would assist in increasing the number of nurse educators to ameliorate the impending shortage related to the aging and or retiring faculty. My “aha” moment, was when I realized how this area of practice truly influences all other areas of practice. Without nurse educators, as Evans (2018) suggests, the number of qualified nurses, nurse administrators, and advanced practice nurses will face shortages. This study demonstrates the need for future nurse educators; hence, how a shortage would have potential negative effects on all other areas of

Many organizations have realized the key to their effectiveness lies in their ability to recruit and retain capable nurses. Retention is a process that should be started before a nurse is hired and needs to be continued until the nurse resigns.