Effects Of Nursing Shortage

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Nursing Shortage is a problem we all should be aware of. There are many factors that may lead to a nursing shortage, such as having stressful and unsafe working environments, and our nurses are being overworked. This is a problem we should be aware of because it is affecting the patient care. Nurses would not have enough time to stay with a patient if they have more patients to worry about. Nurses play a big role in our hospitals and communities, “Nurses play significant roles in hospitals, clinics and private practices. They make up the biggest health care occupation in the United States. Nursing job duties include communicating between patients and doctors, caring for patients, administering medicine and supervising nurses' aides”(study). …show more content…

NCBI discovered that there are several important consequences of high nursing workload. Research shows that a heavy workload on nurses adversely affects patient safety, and sets a negative effect on nursing satisfaction and, as a result, contributes to high turnover and the nursing shortage. In addition to the higher patient acuity, work system factors and expectations also contribute to the nurses’ workload. Nurses are expected to perform nonprofessional tasks such as delivering and retrieving food trays; housekeeping duties; transporting patients; and ordering, coordinating, or performing support services. This is important because this evidence proves that high nursing workload can affect the patients and nurses are doing things that they shouldn't be doing. NCBI stated that, “Previous research linked job-level workload (a working condition) to various nursing outcomes, such as stress, and job dissatisfaction”. Being overworked, nurses are stressed and are dissatisfied with their job. This is important because nurses are already doing extra work and can cause them to be even more stressed. Working a stressful job can make a nurse dissatisfied, and leave their jobs which can lead into a nurse shortage. If nurses are being overworked and end up leaving because of job dissatisfaction, then we will see the negative effects they set in our hospitals and patient

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