Nursing is the fastest growing occupation in the country of America. They are people who are well trained enough to care for the injured and the sick. However, they make a great deal in helping with the end-of life needs as well as give assistance to the family member grieving. Much more, their role is very beneficial to both doctors and other healthcare workers with goal of making patients recover. Having said that, their importance is seen mostly at the front lines of healthcare as well as the backbone of patient treatment (Scutchfield and Keck, 2003). It’s in this regard that, the world will not have been a better place without them. Over the past decades the average age of employed as registered nurses have increased from 42.7% as at 2000 to 44.6 in 2010 (nursingworld.org). However, the government has seen the vast increase in the number of people over the ages of 65years that have medical issues and health needs. And this has placed some restrain on the health system. And some of these restrain have caused changes in the role of nurses as a result of current U.S nurse shortage. Many factors include: the recent healthcare reform has given rise to million to have access to healthcare, thus creating a renewed critical shortage for nurses in the system. Meanwhile, many more nurses retire every year, and this calls for shortage in the workforce in spite of new nurses getting higher degree into the system. Relatively, the present average age of an employed registered nurse
On reading this article and identifying the study, there was a clear insight on how death and dying, and even improved health, impacted those nurses (Conte, 2014). Nurses, who worked closely with their patients, through the perils and suffering, culminating of death and losses, had grief not readily explored to enable that comfort zone (Conte, 2014).
As the general population continues to age and grow, the nursing workforce is aging alongside. Approximately half of the current nursing workforce is apart of the baby boomer generation (Mion). RNs are eligible to retire at age 55, which will affect the majority of “baby boomer” nurses between 2005 and 2010 (Mion). According to the Nursing Management Aging Workforce Survey in 2006, “55% of surveyed nurses reported their intention to retire between 2011 and 2020” (Nursing Shortage). The demand for skilled nurses is growing at an exponential rate. According to information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the supply of nurses has been
In 2000, it was estimated that there were 110,000 open nursing positions, by 2025, it is projected that the open nursing positions will grow to 260,000. The shortage is due to many aspects including, rising population, decreasing of new students in nursing school, decline in nursing earnings compared to other growing occupational fields, aging of nursing workforce and the aging population that will need health care services in the near future. A survey found that 55% of registered nurses intend to retire between 2011 and 2015. This is primarily the
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.
“United States Registered Nurse Workforce Report Card and Shortage Forecast.” American Journal of Medical Quality. January 2012
Nurses: Assist the patients and families to cope with the end-of-life process such as assessing and
Nursing is constantly evolving and adapting to the current population, and with the elderly population increasing exponentially, nurses are inevitably affected by these changes. The baby boomers are getting older, changing healthcare as they go. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, those who are ages 65 and older are expected to increase 17% by 2020. By the recent demographics shift, nursing practice is affected as there becomes a greater need for nurses to be able to guide those who suffer with multiple chronic conditions, specialize in geriatrics, and also care for the mental health of the elderly.
Death is inevitable at some point everyone must face it. Whether it is the death of a family member, friend, or a family pet, people are forced to deal with the death. Nurses however have more frequent encounters with death than the average person does. When a patient dies in a healthcare setting his or her nurse is obligated to deal with that as well. They must find ways to cope with the increased amount of death that
But swelling demand is only part of the problem. Like the patients they serve, the country’s nurses are also aging. Around a million registered nurses (RNs) are currently older than 50, meaning one-third of the current nursing workforce will reach retirement age in the next 10 to 15 years. Nearly 700,000 nurses are projected to retire or leave the labor force by 2024.*
Registered Nursing is listed among the top occupations in terms of job growth for a number of reasons. Typically, the elder population has more medical problems than younger populations. This in turn raises the health care services demand for the aging population. In the next 30 years, over 83.7 million United States residents are projected to be age 65 and over (Rosseter, 2017). This is almost double the estimated population of 43.1 million (Rosseter, 2017). If this projection is correct, there will be an increased need for geriatric care, including care for individuals with chronic diseases and comorbidities (Rosseter, 2017). Nurses will
By 2010, unless many more young people become nurses, about 40 percent of the nursing work force will be over age 50, according to the General Accounting Office (“Nursing Workforce”, 2001).
The growing number of the elderly patient has a direct impact on nursing practice. The issue of” baby boomers” having an increased life expectancy may have jobs security for the nurses in future as evidenced by multiple improvements in cardiac surgery in older population. The aging of the baby boomers is expected to produce a plethora of new nursing jobs, which could lead to higher wages, greater job security, and greater variety in types of work (Page, 2015).
Rachel Gotbaum did an interview on nursing shortage in 2007. There were multiple interviews with health care professionals through her interviews she found that “In the next decade 80 million people will retire. She has stated that since health care changes constantly that nurses need to continue their education no matter how old or how many years they have been in the medical field. When medicine is involved you should always be up-to-date on the latest technology and diagnosis. Nurses may become suddenly ill or injured were they are no longer able to give care anymore. You can never plan if an
The health care issue that I have chosen to research is how we should address the shortage of nurses. I have chosen this topic because I work in a hospital and it is very difficult to recruit new nurses especially in specialized areas. Nurses in the workplace are the largest population of health care employees at 2.7 million nurses employed in the United States according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is almost double the nursing assistants employed at 1.4 million which is the second leading health care occupation in the United States. The nursing profession has the largest job growth from 2008 to 2018 with a total of projection of more than 581,500 new registered nurse positions to be created. It is also projected by 2025 to have a nursing shortage that will grow to more than 260,000 registered nurses (N.d.), Overview of BLS Statistics by Occupation, http://www.bls.gov/bls/occupation.htm
In viewing the issue at hand, it must be noted that the nurse shortage in the United States is not expected to stop any time soon. While the phrase "nurse shortage" has been mentioned for years in the U.S., with the nurse shortage expected to peak in 2020, the median age of nurses standing at 46 with 50% of them close to