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Running head: NURSING SHORTAGE 2

NURSING SHORTAGE 2

Nursing Shortage

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Issue Description

The selected issue is the nursing shortage that is being witnessed which has compromised the staff-patient ration matrix. The nursing shortage has become a major challenge and various health institutions are working with lower levels of nurses as optimal. The current shortage of nurses is estimated to be around 340,000 in 2020(Jarrar et al., 2018). Getting the necessary coverage is unnecessary in the daily working of a nurse. This is an issue that should be of high alarm as it can lead to the paralysis of the national healthcare system.

The issue of nursing shortage as well as turnover is almost overtaking other issues that are in healthcare. The shortage has been worsened by the high turnover rate. There is an estimation that 35 to 69 percent of those who are newly hired will leave their jobs during the first year of employment. It is important to look at the issues that are contributing to the nursing shortage and the high turnover rate.

The nursing shortage has a significant impact in the healthcare facility that I work in. as a nurse, one is expected to give the patient the best care possible and this is reliance on how satisfied the nurses are on the job. The nursing shortage leads to lower satisfaction rates, hinders the process of patient care delivery, and can lead to poor patient outcomes. The nursing shortage also leads to stress among the nurses and this can lead to them leaving increasing the shortage. The nursing surveillance is also limited when they are working with a heavy workload. There is limitation also on the patient-centered care, and the increasing of medical errors. The revenue of the organization also takes a hit when there is the shortage and the turnover.

Article Summary

The first article looks at the issue of nursing shortage and describes how it is prevalent in the nursing world today. Nurses are one of the most important parts of healthcare sector. There are around 3.9 nurses and midwives who are currently operating in the United States. It is estimated that there is a need for more than one million nurses by 2020(Haddad et al., 2020). The American Nurses Association ahs estimated that nursing jobs will be more available compared to any other profession by 2020. The current shortage according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, requires 11 million nurses to be addressed (Haddad et al., 2020). The opportunities that are present for nurses are estimated to continue to grow.

There are several issues that have been seen to contribute to the shortage such as the lack of potential educators, inequitable workforce distribution, and a high turnover. There are other reasons that are seen when it comes to the shortage. The first one is that the population in the United States is aging at a rapid rate. The United States today has a higher population of over 65 compared to any other time in history (Haddad et al., 2020). When the population continues to grow, the need for health services continues to increase. The aging workforce continues to also be a challenge. There are around one million registered nurses today who are above 50 years. There are other situations such as violence in the healthcare setting, growth, as well as regions.

The second article looks at the function of the patient centered care in the mitigation of nursing shortage as well as the outcomes of care. The article mentions that the shortage is both a national and an international issue. The inadequate number of nurses leads to poor healthcare services for the patients. There are few other studies which have explored how the nursing shortage relates to patient safety as well as the quality of care. The article presents a descriptive study that was done in 12 hospitals. The results should that patient-centeredness mediated the relationships of the hospital nurse staffing on the patient safety and quality care (Jarrar et al., 2018).

There are several ways that the nursing shortage problem is being addressed in various organizations. There are organizations that have had to reduce their capacity so as to meet the shortage. There are nurses that are forced to take on additional overtime so as to meet these shortages. At the same time, some of these organizations have been forced to facilitate the training of their members of staff so that they advance in the nursing field.

Strategies for Addressing Nursing Shortage

There are several strategies that have been used to deal with the issue. The first one is having strategic partnerships so as to expand education. There are organizations which are working so as to expand the capacity of the students. The nursing schools are developing partnerships so as to secure funding and private support (Jarrar et al., 2018). The organization that ma working for has partnerships with nursing schools around the state to make sure that there is professional support development. This has had a positive effect because of increase in the number of nurses that are coming into the organization.

The next strategy which is being used is to ensure that there is career promotion. The organization I work for has been participating in promoting nursing to make sure that people are more aware of the need for more nurses. It is important to boost the interest in the surrounding high schools on the importance of nurses and the vital role that can be played. The method has had a positive impact with more students wanting to inquire on how they can get into the nursing filed. There are other larger organizations that have ensured that there are websites to promote these careers.

References

Haddad, L. M., Annamaraju, P., & Toney-Butler, T. J. (2020). Nursing shortage. In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing.

Jarrar, M. T., Rahman, H. A., Minai, M. S., AbuMadini, M. S., & Larbi, M. (2018). The function of patient‐centered care in mitigating the effect of nursing shortage on the outcomes of care. The International journal of health planning and management, 33(2), e464-e473.