Identification Of Project Area / Issue

In Australia a recent report has projected that by the year 2025 there will be a shortfall of 109,000 nurses (Health Workforce Australia, 2012). However, in developing countries, such as Malawi, the nursing shortage has reached dangerous proportions and currently stands at a quarter of the minimum level considered adequate by the World Health Organization (2014). Research by Chimwaza and colleagues (2014) details recent nurse to patient densities in Malawi are 0.343 per 1,000 population compared to Australia’s figures of 15.4 nurses per 1,000 population (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, 2015). Poor working conditions and insufficient salaries, especially in more remote areas, are major factors which impact Malawi’s ability to meet the minimum recommended nurse/patient ratios (Global Fund Observer, 2014). The effects to nursing cannot be underestimated, impacting on the quality of care, and majorly effecting nurses morale and professional pride. Nursing performance is adversely affected due to the excess workload this shortage imposes, hindering the ability to provide the minimum level of health care to patients. Gorman & Hohmuth-Lemonick (2009) stated that nurses are often left to work alone, in highly stressful situations. They have also reported that Malawi’s national guidelines are two nurses per shift on labour and delivery wards, but due to the nursing shortage, one nurse per shift is often the

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

Nurse-to-patient ratios is not a new topic of debate for all of us who deliver care to patients every day. Only lately it has been a big issue that have caught the attention of many. Demands by the medical community for changes concerning staffing, asking for the government interventions in minimum staffing laws. Registered nurses have long acknowledged and continue to emphasize that staffing issues are an ongoing concern, one that influences the safety of both the patient and the nurse. (ANA, 2015) .nowadays hospitals are running for profit and the emphasis is not put on job burnout, stress, and endangerment of patients. Nursing shortages is a very pertinent problem, it will be optimum to have laws in place to help with the issue, however meanwhile leadership and management methods to the matter can help to mend the nursing situation and avoid many of the damaging effects of unfitting nurse-to-patient ratios.

With a shortage of nurses, the care and safety of patients may become compromised. The nurses themselves may be having feelings of dissatisfaction, overwhelm and distress. Nurses who may become overwhelmed with the high number of patients may become frustrated and burnt out. And inadequate staff of nurses may lead to a negative impact on the patient’s outcome. The quality of care the patients may receive in facilities with low staffing may be poor.

This shortage was driven by a demand for more nurses as hospital use increased with better quality of life and higher health standards, developments in patient care technology and a reduced number of working hours for nurses as they sought better work/life

Durning, (2010) tells how nurses are limited in giving quality care due to the number of patients they have on their shift. It also explains the huge difference in the task of caring for a post-partum mother and a patient recovering from a major trauma surgery. When nurses are too busy because they have too many patients to care for, they are more likely to overlook an important change in their patient. This will cause the patient to deteriorate unnecessarily and could potentially result in death (Durning 2010). “Nurses are the main surveillance system in hospitals” (Queensland Nurse, 2010, p.14). If they have too many patients to look after, something is more likely to be missed. There was a study done last year by Nursing Times, that showed the more nurses a hospital had per bed, resulted in fewer patient deaths, and actually lowered the patient’s length of stay (Queensland Nurse, 2010). The state of Victoria in Australia, like California actually has government mandated nurse-to-patient ratios. Since its implementation of the ratios 10 years ago, Victoria’s health system has been made considerably better. There is a safer environment for the patients, the workplace morale is better, and there are less complaints from the public about the quality of care they receive while hospitalized (Holmes, 2010).

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.

According to Peter Buerhaus of Vanderbilt School of Nursing who has studied the problem on staff shortage. “Nursing care in America's hospitals has reached a critical shortage -- the worst in 50 years.”(1)

Within the content of this paper, I will be presenting a description of the current nursing shortage. An

Globally, there is a declared nursing shortage. Countries across the world are scrambling to produce nursing graduates to fill the barren nursing

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

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.

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

The global nursing shortage is resulting in the need to find multiple solutions to providing adequate numbers of nursing personnel. The shortage is exacerbated by nurses leaving the profession and their current positions. Globally, nursing turnover rates range from 10–21% per year, with countries such as the USA and Australia reporting turnover rates of over 20% per year. Retaining nurses in their current positions will reduce the magnitude of consequences associated with the nursing shortage (Cowden and Cummings, 2012).