“By 2025, the shortage of registered nurses is projected to grow to an estimated 260,000, twice as high as any U.S nursing shortages since the 1960’s” (Cullen). Nurses are the backbone of the health care system. They provide overall care and treatment to the patients. Further, while the patient is being admitted, staying and leaving the health care facility, nurses are addressing all of their needs and the families concerns. When facilities do not have adequate staffing the patients and the nurses suffer. In addition to the shortages America is facing, nurses are becoming increasingly stressed and over work. At the same time, the patient care is declining. There are two areas in which the lack of staffing is happening in the United States. First, schools are not accepting enough qualified applicants into the nursing programs. Also, the baby boomers are retiring leaving a huge gap of unfilled nursing positions. The nursing shortages should not be happening on such an epic scale because there are enough qualified applicants wanting to be accepted into the schools. However, the problem does not exist in the shortage of people wanting to become nurses. “The number of students who met all the requirements but weren’t admitted was over 67,000 students last year…” (Courchane). Students want to become nurses and want to make a difference in the lives of others. Although, they have the drive, the good grades and the support to become a great nurse, they can’t. Why? They are not accepted into the program due to funding. The nursing shortage exists because the schools do not have the funding needed to open schools and pay for teachers. As a result, when the budgets are cut the administrators of the nursing schools have to admit fewer s... ... middle of paper ... ...ursing Shortage." Business and Financial News, Breaking US and International News (2009): Web. 17 Nov. 2011. . Fox, Rebecca L., and Kathleen Abrahamson. "A Critical Examination of the U.S. Nursing Shortage: Contributing Factors, Public Policy Implications." EBSCO Host/ Nursing Forum 44.4 (2009): 235-244. Web. 17 Nov. 2011. . Kelly, Karen. "Is the DNP the Answer to the Nursing Faculty Shortage? Not Likely!" EBSCO Host/ Nursing Forum 45.4 (2010): 266-270. Web. 17 Nov. 2011. . Madkour, Rash. "Nursing Shortage: 1 in 5 quits within first year, study says." USA Today [Miami, FL]. USA Today , 15 Feb. 2009. Web. 1 Jan. . "The Nursing Shortage in 2010: Overcoming obstacles and coming up with new strategies." My Nursing Degree. My Nursing Degree, Mar. 2010. Web. 17 Nov. 2011.
Daniel P. Wright, K. M. (2010). Strategies for Addressing the Nursing Shortage: Coordinated Decision Making and Workforce Flexibility. Decision Sciences , 373-401.
Nevidjon, B., & Erickson, J. (31 January, 2001). The Nursing Shortage: Solutions for the Short
... & Abrahamson, K. (2009). A critical examination of the U.S. nursing shortage: contributing factors, public policy implications. Nursing Forum, 44(4), 235-244. doi:10.1111/j.1744-6198.2009.00149.x
Recent literature reports that there is a nursing shortage and it is continually increasing. Data released by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2011) projects that the shortage, would increase to 260,000 by the year 2025. AACN (2011) also reported that 13% of newly registered nurses changed jobs and 37% were ready to change within a year. A study conducted reports that there is a correlation between higher nursing workloads and nurse burnout, retention rates, job dissatisfaction and adverse patient outcomes (Vahey & Aiken, 2004). Among the nurses surveyed in the study, over 40% stated that they were suffering from burnout while 1 in 5 nurses intended
"State Legislative Initiatives to Address the Nursing Shortage." American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Oct. 2006. 11 Dec. 2012 .
"Projected Supply, Demand, and Shortages of Registered Nurses: 2000-2020." American Health Care Association. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Jul 2002. Web. 10 Mar 2012.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition, “Registered Nurses”, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos083.htm, 17 Dec. 2009. Web. 09 March. 2012.
Zerwekh, J., Claborn, J. (2006). Nursing today: Transitions and trends (pp. 343-346). St. Louis, Missouri:
MORGAN, JENNIFER CRAFT, and MARY R. LYNN. "Satisfaction In Nursing in the Context of Shortage." Journal of Nursing Management 17.3 (2009): 401-410. Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition. Web. 20 Feb. 2011.
Zerwekh, J., & Garneau, A. Z. (2012). Nursing today: Transitions and trends. (7th ed.). Phoenix, AZ: Elsevier Saunders.
Since the 1990’s, the interest in nursing and the profession as a whole has decreased dramatically and is still expected to do so over the next 10-15 years according to some researchers. With this nursing shortage, many factors are affected. Organizations have to face challenges of low staffing, higher costs for resources, recruiting and reserving of registered nurses, among liability issues as well. Some of the main issues arising from this nurse shortage are the impact of quality and continuity of care, organizational costs, the effect it has on nursing staff, and etc. However, this not only affects an organization and community, but affects the nurses the same. Nurses are becoming overwhelmed and are questioning the quality of care that each patient deserves. This shortage is not an issue that is to be taken lightly. The repercussions that are faced by both nurses and the organization are critical. Therefore, state funding should be implemented to private hospitals in order to resolve the shortage of nurses. State funds will therefore, relieve the overwhelming burdens on the staff, provide a safe and stress free environment for the patient, and allow appropriate funds needed to keep the facility and organization operational.
Health care reform has been a major issue over the past decade. The Nursing industry has in particular experienced a period of unpredictable change. On Dec 24, 2009, a landmark measure was passed in the senate by a vote of 60 to 39. This decision to pass the health care reform will change America forever. Nurses will constitute the largest single group of health care professionals. They will have a huge impact on quality and effectiveness in health care. The nursing industry will help hold this new program together by acting as the glue (The nursing industry will be the glue holding the new health care in tact.) It is estimated that by 2015 the number of nurses will need to increase to over 4 million. Nurses are the backbone of the health care industry thus creating better polices for this profession will help ease the workload and high demand. A nurse’s main concern is always to insure quality care and the safety of their patients. Under the new health care reform several new measures have been set into place to ease the transition and improve the quality of care for all patients. One program is designed to fund scholarships and loan programs to offset the high costs of education. Nursing shortages and the high turnover has become a serious epidemic. Health care reform is supposed going to solve many of these problems.
The prolonged shortage of skilled nursing personnel has been a serious concern to the healthcare industry, and this shortage has impacted the quality of care delivery. In addition, nursing turnover has also exacerbated the problem of nursing shortage. Nursing shortage has been blamed on many nurses retiring and less younger nurses joining the occupation. There is also an increase in life expectancy (baby boomers) leading an increase in both physical and mental ailment with subsequent demand in nursing care. Nurses are also leaving nursing profession because of inadequate staffing, tense work environment, negative press about the profession, and inflexible work schedules. Even though nursing is a promising career and offers job security, the
...pected to approach 500,000 by 2025, and today 30-50% of RNs leave their practice setting or even the profession within three years of graduating (MacKusick & Minick, 2010). Nursing leaders can use all of the strategies described above to help retain nursing staff. Their success is vital to ensure safe staffing, judicious use of health care dollars, and a high level of expertise at their institutions.
Thousands of nurses throughout the nation are exhausted and overwhelmed due to their heavy workload. The administrators do not staff the units properly; therefore, they give each nurse more patients to care for to compensate for the lack of staff. There are several reasons to why