Women 's Lack Of Women

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 broad research problem leading to this study is the belief that nursing shortage in facilities leads to patient safety issues. The review of available literature on this topic shows strong evidence that lower nurse staffing levels in hospitals are associated with worse patient outcomes. Some of these outcomes include very high patient to nurse ratio, fatigue for nurses leading to costly medical mistakes, social environment, nursing staff attrition from the most affected facilities. The study specifically attempts to find a way to understand how nurse

This is because of the continued shortage of nurses to take care of the growing number of patients in nursing homes, health care centers and hospitals. According to the article “Addressing the Nursing Shortage,” studies show that “the nursing shortage will grow to a staggering one million RNs by the year 2020 if the nursing shortage is not aggressively addressed” (1). The high number of nurses that are of retirement age coupled with the decreasing number of new nursing graduates has contributed to the current nursing shortage. This shortage also affects the current nurse faculty shortage. The issues contributing to the nursing shortage are multifaceted: a diminishing pipeline of new nurses due to a faculty shortage that has resulted in thousands of potential students being turned away, steep population growth in several states. This nursing shortage contributes to nursing fatigue, the possibility of medical errors and compromised patient safety, and poor patient outcomes. In 2011, the Joint Commission issued a Sentinel Event Alert to call attention to health care worker fatigue as it relates to patient safety, noting a link between healthcare worker fatigue and adverse events (Martin,

According to JAMA , a study report describe nurses as being emotionally exhausted and unsatisfied with their time & work quality as they work scheduled is overloaded with more patient care; Dr. Linda Aiken found that “failure to retain nurses contributes to avoidable patient deaths”(JAMA,2002). Another impact of the nurse shortage affecting patient’s quality of care is: the high rate of turnover and opening positions. In 2007 AJN, Dr. Kovner found that 37% of the nurses were thinking of alternate jobs positions. A national poll of nurse recruiter found 16.1% of vacancy rate and 13.1% of turnover (Hodes Group, 2005). The nursing shortage have baffled experts to recognize the gaps by addressing the need of more training, increase resources, work load of staff-patient ratio and quality of care (Sultz & Young,2014).

When the hospitals and other health care facilities were adequately staffed with nurses, the facilities saved more money. When nurses are out for 7 to 8 days from work related injuries, temporary nurse from agencies would come in to fill their spot. This process cost the health care facilities even more money, because temporary nurse agencies are paid more than regular staff nurses. Also when nurses are required to work overtime to cover shifts, nurses reported feeling burned out from work related stress. Nurses working overtime, also reported feeling depressed and stressed from the demand placed on their jobs. As a result of this demand, nurses often would leave their place of employment after a year. This resulted in high overturn rates of nurses. Facilities would then spend more money on new hires and temporary nurses. When ratio of nurse to patient is low facilities spend more on covering for nurses out on leave and patient care

Nurse staffing have an effect on a variety of areas within nursing. Quality of care is usually affected. Hospitals with low staffing tend to have higher incidence of poor patient outcomes. Martin, (2015) wrote an article on how insufficient nursing staff increases workload and job dissatisfaction, which in effect decreases total patient care over all. When nurse staffing is inadequate, the ability to practice ethically becomes questionable. Time worked, overtime, and total hours per week have significant effect on errors. When nurses works long hours, the more likely errors will be made. He also argued that inadequate staffing not only affects their patients but also their loved ones, future and current nursing staff, and the hospitals in which they are employed. An unrealistic workload may result in chronic fatigue, poor sleep patterns, and absenteeism thus affecting the patients they take care of.

is expected to experience a shortage of Registered Nurses soon because baby boomers are aging and the need for health care is growing. This means that older nurses will soon be headed into retirement, and due to the rise in the population there won’t be enough nurses to provide assistance to those in need. Furthermore, in a survey conducted in 2013 by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing it was found that 55% of RNs are 50 years or older (Rosseter, 2017, p. 2). So within in the next 10-15 years most of the current RN workforce will be gone. There are approximately 3 million nurses in the U.S. today, and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics there will be 1.2 million open vacancies for RN jobs by 2024 (Grant, 2016, p. 1). Well if that’s the case, why aren’t these vacancies simply filled by new

“The new nursing shortage” written by Ramachandran is about the lack of nurses in hospitals and other health settings. This is a major concern because it produces nurses to work tirelessly which cause nurses to become fatigue and drain all their energy. Nurses that become fatigue can result in injury. This newspaper article can help me with my essay because it talks about how there are not enough nurses for patient needs, which can be the root for injury. Ramachandran says (2014) “The recent recession made it more difficult for entry-level nurses to find work, as more experienced nurses put off retirement and stayed in the job force. So now there's a nurse shortage – and it's happening all over the world” (para.2). This is tragic and it’s causing

One of the reasons for nurse burnout is inadequate staffing. Inadequate nurse staffing effects many individuals. Most importantly, patients, nurses as well as hospital administrators. According to Department of Professional Employee [DPE], (2016), staffing issues affect nurses as it leads to nurse burnouts and affects nurse’s health, increasing their risks for hypertension, cardiovascular disease and depression. Understaffing also leads to expensive human resources problems that can affect hospital administrator’s budgets. The harsh demands of nursing are forcing nurses to consider alternative careers. Studies have shown the overall turnover cost per registered nurse is $65,000 (DPE, 2016).

We now know that the shortage of nursing is the shortage of care at the bedside and in all the clinical settings. And this has nothing to do with and is totally independent of the national supply of nursing. Solving the shortage of nursing care requires a different intervention than solving some workforce shortage. Ultimately there is not enough of budgeted positions for nurses and other caregivers. It is just plain and simple. It is all a matter of how much money and how we’re spending the money that we have. (Professor Linda Aiken: Nurse-patient ratios will save lives,

Within the next ten years more than one million registered nurses in the United States will be eligible for retirement. This will potentially leave the nursing profession with the largest shortage in history. The need for health care is only growing due to the aging baby boomer population. “Nursing researchers have noted that the projected nursing shortage, if not rectified, is expected to affect healthcare cost, job satisfaction and quality patient care” (Lartey, 2014). Without an adequate number of nurses what will happen to our hospitals, schools, nursing homes, nursing programs, and more importantly our patients? There are three main issues that if addressed can serve as possible solutions to the upcoming nursing shortage. First hospitals and jobs need to retain their trained, experienced nurses. Second the nursing profession needs to be promoted to increase the enrolment number and bridge the gap between retirement and new nursing graduates. Thirdly nurses and society need to be educated to end the stereotypes and poor images of the nursing profession.

Nursing, at its inception, was a service provided mostly by women. Far from a profession, it was considered a vocation; often a mere extension of the wife/mother role. Nurses were perceived as servants to the physicians with little power or ability to function independently. The predominant male presence in medicine, lack of formal education offered to nurses, and the subservient nature of the work significantly hindered its professionalization. Over time, as educational standards were created and stereotypical biases were surmounted, nursing slowly began to evolve (Ghadirian, Salsali, & Cheraghi, 2014).

Additionally, nurses are put into uncomfortable situations because of the amount of work that is being forced on them. This affects nurses in many negative ways such as constantly being mentally, physically, and emotionally drained (Grid, Affects Health Care). Nurses having to go through this type of stress isn’t good for their health, due to low levels of staffing in the nursing field patient care is clearly put at risk because of the long stressful hours they are required to work. Nurses who are emotionally and physically drained tend to make medical errors which then lead patients to suffer more than what they already are. (Schumacher, Effect On Health) Having patients suffer due to a medication error can cause even extra stress to the nurse

The nursing occupation is facing tough working conditions as a result of a nurse shortage in the industry. (Bowles & Candela, 2005). Due to this, hours are prolonged to unhealthy lengths and increase in patient – nurse ratio means that nurses are being stretched to their maximum productivity to provide extensive care for everyone. This essay examines the reasons behind why nurses are choosing to leave the occupational field and the consequences of these working conditions on both nurses and patients. Secondly, it’ll look at how improvements can be made to in order to lower stress levels aswell as retain existing and attract new nurses to the occupation.

To uncover a solution to the problem, we must first understand the reasons behind the nursing shortage. In the years following 1945 there was an increase in birth rates, but after 1964 there was a significant decline. This generation is also known as the baby boomers, are currently between the ages of fifty-three and seventy-two. “The National Council of State Boards of Nursing reports 55% of the RN workforce is age 50 or older; the Health Resources and Services Administration projects that one million nurses are eligible for retirement in 10-15 years” (Snavely, 2016). With this aging generation, it will put