The National Nursing Shortage

It is no secret that the United States is currently experiencing a shortage of nurses . “The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics ( 2009 ) estimated that more than one million new and replacement nurses will be needed by 2018 to meet the increased demands of the health care workforce” (). The stressful conditions under which nurses work, due in part to the nursing shortage, are among the risk factors that contribute to nurses’ abuse of illicit drugs and alcohol. Nurses are unique in that they work in an environment where they not only have access to controlled substances, but also are exposed to critically ill patients, traumatic situations, death and dying, the stress of which can increase the risk of substance abuse. (Epstein, Burns, & Conlon, 2010). Unfortunately, it is the patient that suffers the most.

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

The shortage of nurses in the United States has been discussed often and has been fully reported in the media over the past several decades. There have been reports of shortages so critical that they actually have become "…a national security concern" (Nelson, 2002). Moreover, the reasons for the shortages and potential solutions for this crisis are extremely well covered in the scholarly literature. In this paper, an article in the peer-reviewed Health Marketing Quarterly points to how the nursing shortage can be addressed using marketing strategies. In addition, other scholarly articles will be reviewed in order to address the challenges and consequences that could result if this crisis is not addressed immediately.

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 national nursing shortage is an ever-growing concern, and it is essential for healthcare organizations to confront the looming issue. Possible solutions to the nursing shortage include retaining older nurses who are looking to retire, increasing the amount of students graduating from nursing schools, and drawing nurses back to the bedside who have left the nursing workforce (Hatcher, 2006). Leaders must assess the nursing turnover in their organization, and they must strategize on ways to retain those nurses. Organizations must implement techniques to retain older nurses to help combat the national nursing shortage and prevent a national healthcare disaster (Keller & Burns, 2010). The purpose of this paper is to identify the demographic breakdown of an organization, explain how the organization’s environment is conducive and non-conducive for older workers, and describe tactics to retain older workers.

The national nursing shortage is an ever-growing concern and it is essential for health care organizations to confront the looming issue. Possible solutions to the nursing shortage include retaining older nurses who are looking to retire, increasing the amount of students graduating from nursing schools, and drawing nurses who have left the nursing workforce back to the bedside (Hatcher, 2006). Leaders must assess the nursing turnover in their organization and strategize on ways to retain those nurses. Organizations must implement techniques to retain older nurses to help combat the national nursing shortage and prevent a national healthcare disaster (Keller & Burns, 2010). The purpose of this paper is to identify the demographic breakdown of an organization, explain how the organization’s environment is conducive and non-conducive to older workers, and describe tactics to retain older workers.

I have decided on the questions are: Why is there a nursing shortage? What is recruitment? Which redesign job method is more appealing to the other?

There is no question that the United States (US) is affected by a shortage of nurses. Even with all the prospective students and newly license registered nurses (RN), we still see a deficit in this area. In 2022, it is projected that there will be roughly 1.05 million RN jobs that are vacant nationally. These spots cannot be filled because of the predicament that we are face with currently. Many issues such as lack of faculty, an increased average age of current RN’s, and long hours and high stress levels are impacting the need for more RN’s in the very near future. The topic of nursing shortages is nothing new; it has been in discussion for years and many organizations, facilities, government affiliates, and possible solutions have been identified. There are many challenges set forth in the act of proliferating the number of RN’s.

The Nursing Workforce Shortage: Causes, Consequences, Proposed Solutions Patients need nursing care but in the healthcare setting there is shortage of nurses in the workforce. The largest health care professionals in the United States are registered nurses. In the past, there were a lot of nurses’ shortages in the healthcare setting. Therefore, to solve this problem the wages went up and more nurses started working. Also, the more nurses that is working in the healthcare setting it will be a better health outcome and good for quality care.

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.

There are two challenges that remote population are facing for access the healthcare – nursing staff retention and partnerships with remote community. Nursing shortages are a worldwide problem that has the potential to generate unfavorable impacts on the quality of nursing care (Chan, Tam, Lung, Wong, & Chau, 2013). There are many factors that may contribute to nursing shortages such as aging faculty, reduced younger hiring pool, poor salaries and working conditions, the negative image of the nurse, role dissatisfaction, and low enrollment rates of nursing students (Nardi & Gyurko, 2013). One solution to reduce nursing shortages is to improve working conditions. This improvement relies on the mobilization of resources to address high nurse-patient

I enjoyed reading your post. The work force, primary the nursing staff and the unclear future of health care caught my attention. The nursing shortage will impact all areas of healthcare. There are two local colleges that have a nursing school for associate degree nurses (ADN) within the community that Lakeland Healthcare hires from. The recommendations from the Institute of Medicine is to have over 80 percent bachelor of science nursing degree (BSN) by 2020 (Hewitt, 2016). There have been multiple recommendations in the past for registered nurses (RN) in my organization to obtain a BSN degree. Starting in January, 2017 it will become a requirement. A committee has been meeting for over six months on how to implement this process.

through the wound care being performed and missed a major step in caring for that patient, leading to infection. The effect of increased nurses to patients has been shown many times to improve patients’ outcome.

The ongoing instability evidenced from the high mobility of qualified nurses in the nursing workforce has raised many questions about the issue of nursing shortage and nurse turnover (Gates & Jones, 2007). The paper below discusses the issues of nursing shortage and nurse turnover. The paper also describes how leaders as well as managers in the nursing fraternity and other leaders can resolve those problems effectively and the different applicable principles, skills, roles of the leader, and theories of leadership and management.

Nurses occupy a central role in the delivery of health care in all countries though countries have different health care systems and methods of payment options. Unfortunately research on the nursing experience carried out in some countries has indicated high levels of job dissatisfaction, burnout and intention to leave the profession. Many countries are facing nursing shortages, worsened by the fact that richer nations are luring nurses away from poorer ones, and that the nursing profession has lost popularity among younger women and men as a career option (Burke et al., 2012).