The Problems Due to Shortage of Qualified Nurses in the US

The financial problems of nurse staffing, nurse recruitment, and nurse retention go hand in hand. Nurse staffing is an ongoing issue, that emanates from

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

An article in the Health Marketing Quarterly written by Mark Somers, Linda Finch, and Dee Birnbaum (university instructors in schools of management, nursing and business fields in the U.S.) asserts that the nursing shortages of "highly trained nurses and of nursing faculty" is close to a level that could be termed a "crisis" (Somers, et al, 2010). The expected gap between supply and demand will expand to more than a million nurses by 2020, Somers explains, which is twice the shortfall had had been projected just two years prior to this article's publication (292).

A scholarly search was conducted to select the most relevant articles related to nursing shortages. The search was initiated through the use of electronic databases CINAHL and MEDLINE, and professional organizations websites. Keywords for the search included: nursing shortage, impact, hospitals, prevention, patient outcomes, nursing faculty shortage, and the United States. The original search produced 606 articles. The search was further narrowed by selecting only academic journals or research articles with full text available for the years 2008 through 2015. Sixteen journal articles were reviewed. Five of these articles were selected for involvement in the review of literature section of this paper based on the types of research design. Below is a summary of the sources used.

Nurses make up the majority of health care staffing with over 4 million active registered nurses in the United States. Nurses are responsible for quality patient care and constantly monitoring and assessing their patients and are often providing the majority of patient care. With such a large impact on patients and their care, it is alarming to know there is shortage of nurses both state and nationwide. The demand for nurses is high but the supply is low. This is currently one of our nation’s largest health care issues. If it is not addressed, it will not only affect our current health care system but also the economic health of our nation’s future. There are several key factors that contribute to the nursing shortage; an increase in nurses who are retiring from the work field, there is a decrease in nursing educational resources and opportunities leading in to a lower number of new graduated nurses and a high level of staff turnover. An increase in nursing shortages results in decreased quality patient care and increased risk to patients.

According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) we are currently experiencing a nursing shortage. It stated that this nursing shortage is currently different than the past shortages. The present nursing shortage is due to fewer nurses entering the workforce due to unacceptable conditions, and the ones that do enter the workforce are not prepared to provide patient care in a changing health care environment. One would think, if they graduated from a nursing program, and passed the NCLEX licensure exam, how is one not prepared to provide excellent patient care? I believe it’s not that the individual is not qualified for the job, they may be lazy or even overwhelmed with too much work, due to the shortage. With there being

The U.S. healthcare system is no stranger to nursing shortages. In very simple terms, this type of shortage happens when a lack of skilled nurses negatively impacts individual patient care; shortage occurrences can transpire at a local, national or international level. It is a recurring problem we have been faced with for the past five decades. However, what we will be up against between now and 2025 is a predicament of far greater proportion than ever encountered before. “Considering the impacts this prolonged shortage will have on the U.S. healthcare 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

One of the most critical factors is a faculty shortage in nursing programs. This has caused a decreasing number of new nurses and has resulted in thousands of prospective students being turned away. In recent years, it is reported that nursing schools turned away 79,659 qualified applicants (Nursing Shortage, 2016). This was due to an insufficient number clinical sites, clinical preceptors, budget constraints, and number of faculty. Factors contributing to the nursing faculty shortage include, low salaries for educators compared to those in clinical settings, nurses waiting until an older age to advance their education, entering educative roles late in their career, inability to fill open faculty roles, large numbers of currently employed nursing educators retiring (Nursing Shortage,

health care professionals in the United States.Current and projected nursing shortages reflect the fact that fewer people are entering the profession.Shortages are difficult to estimate and project.In the past,shortages have tended to be resolved as wages rose in response to increased need for RNs.In addition, there is a cyclical aspect to shortages,as RNs are more likely to work when the economy is doing less well.1 Projected shortages differ from past circumstances in that,by 2020,a decline in the number of available nurses will coincide with an increased need for nursing services due to aging of the baby boom generation.These changes suggest that it will be more difficult,and more costly,to respond to the future

In 2002, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projected that the United States would be 800,000 registered nurses short of the national need by the year 2020. Recently, this number has increased to over one million RNs short of the need by 2012 (BLS, 2004). Although there has been some indication that the entry of older nurses into the profession, along with efforts to recruit foreign-born nurses, have helped to ease the shortage, scholars project that the predicted trends are likely to continue (Auerbach, Buerhaus, & Steiger, 2007; Buerhaus, Donelan, Ulrich, Norman, & Dittus, 2006; Larkin, 2007). As such, the need for understanding the factors contributing to the nationwide shortage has never been greater.

Increasing Hospital Nurse Retention A healthcare facility has known for many decades for the continuously assistance of nurses, facilities around the world an encounter an increase of nursing shortages. Nurse Executives also have in mind the financial impact nurse retention and nurse turnover have on the organization. End result, nurses cost tens of thousands of dollars to recruit and train. A better-quality hiring and recruiting process possibly will result in not only enhanced retention and reduced turnover; however include also several constructive benefits including financial, patient satisfaction and quality of care.

Retention of RNs is vital to avoiding a nurse shortage crisis. Although the numbers of new graduates and student nurses are growing, progress cannot be made if the RNs are eventually leaving the profession because of stress and dissatisfaction with the workplace environment. Many nurses are already planning to leave nursing as soon as it is economically possible. “Nearly one quarter of nurses plan to seek a new place of employment as the economy recovers” (AMN Healthcare, 2011). “Thirty-two percent of nurses plan to take steps in the next one to three years that would take them out of nursing altogether (by retiring or seeking non-nursing jobs) or reduce the volume of clinical work they do (by switching to part-time or less

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

Improving education and training is one of the strategies to address nursing shortage. Increase in federal funding to compensate current faculties and graduate students faculty is essential in addressing the issues. This will decrease vacancy rates and help to improve workload. Development of a program among regional and statewide nursing schools is another factor to consider. This promotes joint efforts with faculties allowing them to make use of resources efficiently which also assist in students nurse advancement. Moreover, it

All the options presented in part two, if combined could have a positive impact on the nurse faculty shortage; however one option in particular warrants drilling down even further to fully unearth how improving one factor could help to remedy the shortage of faculty. Research supports satisfaction of nurse educators greatly influences recruitment and retention. Two factors that influence faculty satisfaction is their rate of pay and their workload. Since rate of pay varies greatly from institution to institution and a plan to equalize this factor would be difficult to standardize, the focus of this writing will be on faculty workloads.