Nursing Shortage Essay

AbstractCompelling evidence suggests that regions of the United States daring a treat and physician shortage that our legislators, health officials, and health check skippers must(prenominal) mete out. To ensure that quality medical cargon is non harshly impacted, the hospitals and everywheret health leadership, in general, leave alone need to tackle the harbor shortage with solid long-term solutions.It is no secret that the United States faces a overcritical foreboding for shortage, a trend that potentialityly threatens to undermine quality medical distribute. bingle single atomic number 18a of concern does not affect the shortage. In fact, the hospitals, and c be for in particular, argon witnessing a combination of problems that range in salary structure, medical economics/cost containment, post- refine education, and an aging breakforce (pending releasements of baby-baby boomers). The cosmos health industry is not sitting idly by to address the shortage. It is critically reviewing the needs for both existing professions.Definition of Nursing shortageNursing shortage is defined as the inadequate number of do nurses to adopt the projected demand for treat care within a healthcare setting, where the demand for nurses is greater than the supply.History of Nursing Shortage diachronic know directge is primary(prenominal) to analyze the present and prepare for the future. As we toilet see from the watercourse shortage in America today, we learn that it is not a new problem. However what makes this catamenia nurse shortage site unique is that the causes are related to a multifaceted range of issues. The electric current breast feeding shortage is connected to supply and demand meanss, demographic removes, universe growth, and fewer students enrolling in nursing rails, RNs who are retiring or going away the live onforce and a growth in the baby boom tribe who impart demand to a greater extent healthcare services in the close mouthed future. These factors are occurring while legion(predicate) nurses are retiring and more jobs are being created. In addition, the nursing shortage is actually a cosmopolitan phenomenon with areas like Western Europe, Australia, Canada and the Philippines facing shortages as well.Economic factors have as well contributed to the nursing shortage in the United States. Mark Genovese, spokesperson for the sore York State Nurses Association explains, For many decades the shortage was cyclical but as the economy tightened and as the insurance industry moved to a managed care model, there was less bullion in the system and hospitals had less money to drill with and tighter budgets.Budgetary limitations affected the nursing workforce as many nurses began leaving the profession altogether. They were forcing RNs to do more with less, handle more patients and work more hours. RNs started to leave the workforce because of the working conditions and fewer RNs entered the system, exp lains Mark.Americans are withal demanding more quality healthcare services while many RNs are retiring, further exacerbating the problem. The HRSA has stated to meet the projected growth in demand for RN services, the U.S. must graduate approximately 90% more nurses from U.S. nursing programs.Decreased staffing hatefuls that there are fewer nurses to work with patients. This impacts job pleasure and causes work related test. In some cases it has led to many nurses leaving the profession altogether. A 2010 determine published in Health Services Research found that over 75% of RNs thumb that the nursing shortage is a huge problem that affects their quality of work as well as patient care and the amount of sentence that nurses can spend with individual patients.Another important factor bestow to a lack of nurses is that there is a shortage of nursing school force to train a new generation of nurses in colleges and universities. The AACNs 2008-2009 Enrollment and Graduations i n Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing identify found that nursing programs in the U.S. did not enroll 49,948 qualified students into their live and graduate degree programs because they did not have an adequate number of module, clinical practice sites, belief space, and were constrained by budgetary limitations. Two thirds of the nursing program respondents reported that a big reason for not judge students was due to not having affluent nurse aptitude on hand.The southern Regional Board of Education conducted a study which found that the nursing module shortage in 16 states was caused by vacant energy positions, retreats, resignations and a shortage of new candidates applying for readiness positions. Shortages like this pose a threat to the availability of nurse education. Defining the ProblemFor those students interested in careers in healthcare, becoming a nurse right now could be the best decision for you. Currently, the United States is facing a severe nursi ng shortage. For some(prenominal) reasons, the number of nurses graduating and entering the workforce, and those already in the profession, is not enough to fill the growing demand. Currently, RNs are the largest group of healthcare workers in the US at roughly 2.6 meg and that still isnt enough to meet the need. According to experts, by 2012, there could be around 1.1 million waste nursing positions in the United States.In the most basic sense, the current global nursing shortage is plainly a widespread and austere lack of expert nurses who are needed to care for individual patients and the existence as a whole. The work of the worlds estimated 12 million nurses is not well understood, flat by educated parts of society. But nursing is a distinct scientific field and autonomous profession whose skilled practitioners save lives and improve patient outcomes every day in a wide variety of settings.In the Truths view, the vast geological fault amongst what skilled nurses real ly do and what the public thinks they do is a fundamental factor underlying most of the more immediate unembellished causes of the shortage. These causes include nurse short-staffing (due to inadequate pay and long work hours), piteous work conditions, the aging nursing workforce, fan outed career options for women, nursings predominantly female nature, the increasing complexity of health care and care technology, and the rapidly aging nations in developed nations, to name a few. opposite causes of the nursing shortage episode include the aging baby boomer population and lack of employee incentives. There were seventy- half-dozen million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 and are now classified the Baby Boomer Generation. As this population reaches retirement age and beyond, they are requiring more medical treatments and nursing base of operations and long term care facilities. This country is also seeing an ontogeny in population in general, projected to grow 18% over the ne xt two decades. With more patients flooding the healthcare system, there simply arent enough nurses to meet this growing need. However, those currently employed in the nursing field should be rewarded for being raised and motivated to stick about in such a questionable field of art.In sapless of this nursing shortage, it should be relatively easy to find gainful employment after graduation should you choose to study nursing. According to the Bureau of undertaking Statistics (BLS), more than 581,000 new Registered Nurse (RN) positions volition be created through 2018, which will increase that workforce by an astounding 22%. The BLS also estimates that even as other sectors of our economy continue to suffer, the healthcare sector will only continue to grow. Since the recession began, more than 600,000 positions have been created in the healthcare industry. With so many Americans out of work in other fields, a career in healthcare, specifically in nursing, might be a viable caree r choice.Literature ReviewToday, the number age of nursing faculty in baccalaureate and graduate degree programs is 51.5 years and the govern of projected retirements will exceed the rate of re placements. Nurses enter the faculty role later in their careers and typically retire at an prior age, around 62.5 years. More campaigns need to be put into place to encourage those already education to remain in their positions even if it is in a limited capacity while future faculty are educated.What factors are present that facilitate the desire for nursing faculty to retire? Kowalski, Dalley, and Weigand (2006) conducted a cross-sectional, randomized study of 129 nurse educators inform in 61 schools of nursing to find out what personal decisions influenced their retirement plans. With a 37.6% response rate, results reflected that the mean age of planned retirement was 64.4 years. However, the mean age respondents would like to retire was 62.4. Factors influencing retirement include d workplace issues, personal and family health, attitudes about retirement, and financial security.One of the most important factors influencing retirement plans was financial security. Faculty members who were financially substantial retired earlier. Job satisfaction was another important influencing factor resulting in earliest retirement. In lieu of the faculty shortage, the authors contend that studies such as this will offer insight into future retirement trends which may help duo the gap between supply and the demand of nurse educators (Kowalski et al., 2006). From the results of this one study it may be important to consider the needs of the aging faculty by providing healthy, satisfying, and stimulating work environments, appropriate benefits packages, and relaxing mandatory retirement ages.One serious factor contributing to the faculty shortage is financial. non only are schoolman salaries much start than they are for clinical practice and administrative positions of mod practice nurses, but the cost of securing go on academic degrees is costly. In 2004, the average salary of a checks-prepared nurse practitioner in a clinical setting was $80,697 compared to $60,831 for that of a masters-prepared nursing faculty member (Nevada Nurses Association, 2004). By increasing academic salaries and providing information allowances in return for teaching will indeed make teaching a more enthralling career choice (Yordy, 2006).Another important factor touching the faculty shortage is that of job satisfaction, stress, and burnout. To maintain current faculty on the job, more research should be conducted on factors affecting job satisfaction and what works to volunteer a better environment. Gormley (2003) performed a meta-analysis study on nursing faculty job satisfaction and which factors had the superior influence using a sample of six studies from 1976 and 1996. Nursing faculty are pressured not only to educate future nurses to provide preventive an d competent care, but also have many other headmaster responsibilities, such as publishing, conducting research, writing grants, performing community service, and maintaining their own competencies (Gormley, 2003). These responsibilities unite can fabricate overwhelming and lead to job dissatisfaction especially as the faculty is aging.In Gormleys study (2003), factors that affected job satisfaction were perception/expectation of the leaders role in curriculum and instruction, suggesting that the deans role has significant effects on facultys job satisfaction and role conflict/ambiguity. Shirey (2006) argues that prolonged stress can lead to burn-out in many faculty who then become deadwood, jeopardizing the quality and spirit of the institution. These faculty members can ward off potential new faculty who are even more vulnerable to the stresses of the teaching role.It is imperative that academic institutions pay close attention to the needs of their faculty. Mentoring programs, self-renewal, and organizational engagement are key strategies to prevent burnout (Shirey, 2006). A carefully coordinate and deliberate mentoring program can be an invaluable orientation as schools of nursing seek to provide an academic environment that is conducive to the professional and scholarly development of adjunct faculty members (Peters & Boylston, 2006, p. 64).One serious factor contributing to the faculty shortage is financial. Not only are academic salaries much lower than they are for clinical practice and administrative positions of advanced practice nurses, but the cost of securing advanced academic degrees is costly. In 2004, the average salary of a masters-prepared nurse practitioner in a clinical setting was $80,697 compared to $60,831 for that of a masters-prepared nursing faculty member (Nevada Nurses Association, 2004). By increasing academic salaries and providing tuition allowances in return for teaching will indeed make teaching a more attractive career ch oice (Yordy, 2006).Program AnalysisPossible SolutionsFor sustained change and assurance of evading the forthcoming shortage, solutions must be developed in several areas education, health care systems, policy and regulations, and image. This shortage is not exclusively a nursing issue, but will require a collaborative effort among nursing leaders, practitioners, health care executives, government, and the media.Creating Cultures of RetentionThe American Nurses Association attractive force hospital program has had a proven success in rearing the standards of nursing practice and improving patient outcomes. Currently there are 85 organizations that are designated Magnet hospitals. Magnet facilities are characterized by unattackable administrative support, adequate nurse staffing, strong communication, nurse autonomy, better control, and a vital focus on the patient and their family.A growing tree trunk of research indicates that this program is making a positive difference for nur ses, patients, and the hospitals as a whole. Research is proving that through this program, nurses are having increased satisfaction as well as increased perceptions of productivity and the quality of care given. Studies also indicate that these facilities have lower incidence of needle stick injuries, lower burn out rates, and double the retention of non-Magnet facilities. By adopting the characteristics of Magnet hospitals, facilities will be able to create a culture of retention that empowers and is honorific of nursing staff.Strengthening the InfrastructureIn 2002 the Nursing Reinvestment Act was subscribe by President Bush to address the problem of our nations nursing shortage. This initiative was intended to promote people to enter and remain in nursing careers, thus reducing the growing shortage. The law establishes scholarships, loan repayments, public service announcements, retention grants, career ladders, and grants for nursing faculty. Many statewide initiatives are u nderway to address this issue as well.In Pennsylvania, six new nursing education initiatives have been announced to address faculty shortage by encouraging current nurses to return to school, earn graduate degrees, and teach the next generation of nurses. Illinois is unveiling a plan to provide faculty scholarships and grants to nursing schools in order to expand student enrollment. California, whose nursing programs currently have wait lists over three years, is trying to expand nursing education through a $90 million initiative.