The United States, along with other countries, are in danger of experiencing serious breakdowns in the health care system if the current nursing shortage is not addressed. Just like with any other shortage in staff, an organization needs to look within or outsource ways to recruit and minimize turn over. The media has been reporting a shortage in registered nurses (RNs) for many years. This shortage in RNs is found most prevalent in hospitals. Some reports say that absence rates of RNs employed ranges from 10.2 percent to 13 percent (Spetz & Given, 2003). In order to understand the deficiency of RNS, we must start with asking ourselves, “What causes the shortages?”
Joanne Spetz and Ruth Given found that adjusting the nurse’s wages might be
The current and growing shortage of nurses is posing a real threat to the ability of hospitals, long-term care facilities, and others to provide timely access to quality care. Nurse staffing shortages and nurse turn-over contributes to the growing reduction in the number of staffed patient beds available for services, increasing costs, and rising concerns about the quality of care. Health care organizations highly depend on nurse managers and leaders to reverse this trend. This paper discusses the reasons for nursing shortage and turn-over, different approaches to solve this issue, and my personal philosophy about this issue.
“In 2010, the US Department of Labor Statistics (DLS) projected a 22 percent increase in the demand for RNs or 581,500 new jobs by 2018, to total a projected 1,039,000 jobs needed to be filled by 2018” (Cottingham, DiBartolo, Battistoni, and Brown, 2011, p. 250). It is imperative that strategies be implemented to improve recruitment of nurses as patient care will ultimately see the effects. Without improvements in the recruiting of new grads or seasoned nurses, organizations
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
There is a shortage of all health care professions throughout the United States. One shortage in particular that society should be very concerned about is the shortage of Registered Nurses. Registered Nurses make up the single largest healthcare profession in the United States. A registered nurse is a vital healthcare professional that has earned a two or four year degree and has the upper-most responsibility in providing direct patient care and staff management in a hospital or other treatment facilities (Registered Nurse (RN) Degree and Career Overview., 2009). This shortage issue is imperative because RN's affect everyone sometime in their lifetime. Nurses serve groups, families and individuals to foster
31,000 were prelicensure applicants” (as cited in Ganley & Sheets, 2009, p. 401). As more
Have you ever thought about the role a nurse has between his or her client? A nurse’s role is more than just helping clients when they are not feeling well. In 2007 there were a reportedly 12 million nurse’s employed (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2009). That is a large amount of nurse’s that are employed in the world. A nurse protects, promotes, optimizes health and ability, prevents illness or injury, alleviates suffering through treatment and diagnosis of human response, and advocates in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations (Amercian Nurses Association, 2012). A nurse stands for many good qualities but, why is there a big shortage of nurses?
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
We chose the same research topic from the scenario that was given, which was nursing shortage. Using a quantitative approach to study the problem of nursing shortage is feasible; it would involve looking at the nurse to patient ratio and comparing that to the mortality rate of the patients. In order for the patient to receive quality care, it is vital to have an appropriate amount of human resources (Abhicharttibutra, Kunaviktikul, Turale, Wichaiknum, & Srisuphan, 2016, p. 23). Having a shortage in nurse staffing can affect the patient as well as the nurses.
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
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
Over time there have been many opportunities for nurses to have a positive impact through community service. In the world around us there have been and currently are many health issues. From the common cold to the many diseases there is much work to be done. In most countries of the world there was and still is a shortage of nurses. Due to the lack of nurses being available to provide necessary care to those with severe illnesses, millions die every year.
Over 50% of the current workforce will retire by 2035. Manchester. A. (2013. p 26). This will create a great demand for nurses, as there isn’t enough of an intake of nurses right now to make up for those who will retire. New Zealand can’t rely on International Qualified Nurses (IQN’s) as the United Kingdom, Australia, and The United States of American are all becoming more attractive for IQN’s and RN’s due to better pay.
There is a lack of medical professionals being adequately trained to handle the increased demand for complex health care in America (Stock, McDermott, & McDermott, 2014). Many hospitals experience nursing shortfalls due to this shortage. However, this decrease is in part due to the number of qualified nurses that leave the field due to burnout. A high number of nurses feel safe to leave the nursing field now that the economy is recovering (AMN Healthcare, 2013). In 2013, over 30 percent of emergency department Registered Nurses (RNs) surveyed indicated that they plan to leave the field in the next year (AMN Healthcare, 2013).
The nursing shortage is no longer a projected problem in the healthcare industry in the United States, this problem is present and is not phasing out anytime soon. Addressing this challenge would improve job satisfaction, reduce burnout in the profession and ultimately improve retention.
As a first-year nursing student, I cannot count the number of times I have been asked, "Why nursing?" Many people in my life are under the assumption that there are too many nurses in our country, which is not the case. While the nursing shortage is a current issue, it is certainly not a new one. According to Donald E. Yett, a professor at the University of Southern California who is an expert on the economics of medical care, the nursing shortage issue dates to the 1940's leading to The Nurse Training Act of 1964 (p. 190). While the issue was well known it steadily grew out of control, despite all efforts made against it. When the Nurse Training Act of 1964 was signed, the issue was the lack of nurses and nursing graduates (Yett, 1966). However, according to Aiken, Cheung, and Olds (2003), writers for Health Affairs a peer-reviewed healthcare journal, today nursing school is very competitive, with high enrollment and graduation rates (p. 647). The issue that our country is facing now is that the demand for nurses is growing, we aren't producing enough nurses to meet the demand due to the lack of educators available to take on such high volumes of students, and we are experiencing high nurse turnover and retirement rates (Aiken, Cheung, Olds, 2003). For one to better understand the article "The Nursing Shortage and The Nurse Training Act of 1964," one must examine the quality of care, lack of nursing educators, as well as nurse work environments.