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In 2000, there were 7 million Americans that worked in health care (Thompson, 2018). In 2017, the rate of Americans working in health care almost doubled. (Thompson, 2018). Even in North Carolina, health care is 9.8% of the overall workforce (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2018). The increase of the health care work force can be attributed to the unstoppable growth in medical spending, and for the first time in history it has passed manufacturing and retail which was the most prominent source of employment in the 20th century (Thompson, 2018). Though there has been an increase in health care employment there is still a shortage of physicians and nurses. There are several contributing factors to the nursing shortage in the United States, such as education and the aging baby boomer population.

In America, experienced nurses are retiring at a rapid clip, and there aren't enough new nursing graduates to replenish the workforce. (Kavilanz, 2018). Nursing schools are experiencing an increase in applicants but these school do not have the capacity to increase their hiring rate. Robert Rosseter from the American Association of Colleges for Nursing says that this situation is catch 22 because there is a desperate need for nurses, but schools cannot fulfill this demand (Kavilanz, 2018). There are currently about three million nurses in the United States. The country will need to produce more than one million new registered nurses by 2022 to fulfill its health care needs" (Kavilanz, 2018). The need for more registered nurses grows but in 2017 over 56,000 qualified applicants were turned away from nursing school (Kavilanz, 2018).

The aging baby boomer population is another reason why the United States will need over one million nurses by 2022. According to the American Medical Student Association, the population of individuals over the age of 65 will increase by 73 percent between 2010 and 2030, meaning one in five Americans will be senior citizens. (Carrington College, 2014). The Alliance for Aging research has estimated that by 2030 over 33,000 geriatricians will be needed to accommodate for the growth of the elderly population. Not only will this senior citizen population need geriatricians they will also need nurses to help provide clinical care.

As a human resource manager in health care anticipating future need by using job analysis would be a great place to start when dealing with staffing shortages. It is important for human resource managers to research the cause of nursing shortages, so they are better equipped to prevent scarcity within their facility. The use of computerized human resources information systems will be helpful in recording these issues so that a clear and concise plan of action can be created (Pynes & Lombardi, 2011). Research suggests that experienced nurses are retiring at a rapid rate and less students are being accepted into nursing school, human resource managers can create benefit packages that can be offered to nurses who are willing to work past their retirement date. Ensuring that there will not be a swift retirement among the nursing staff will allow more time to hiring and train new nurses. Since most of the baby boomer’s population have reached senior citizen age, clinical care will have to be re-evaluated to handle the increase in elderly patients." To meet the long-term care needs of Baby Boomers, social and public policy changes must begin soon" (Knickman, 2002). Human resource managers need to ensure that their nursing staff has the resources to handle and increase in the elderly population.

The nursing shortage can be attributed to education and the aging Baby Boomer population. A human resource managers goal should be to educate, plan and execute policies that prevent their organization from dealing with nursing shortages. Though most human resource managers do not have any control over the acceptance rates of nursing schools, they can figure out ways to ensure that employees will stay with the organization. For example, creating incentives to nurses who are close to retirement. Handling a nurse shortage is never an easy task, Hebrews 10:36 reminds us "You need to preserve so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised"

References

Carrington College. (2014). How Baby Boomers will affect the Health Care Industry in the U.S. Retrieved from Carrington College.

Kaiser Family Foundation. (2018). Health Care Employment as a Percent of Total Employment. Retrieved from Kaiser Family Foundation.

Kavilanz, P. (2018). Nursing Schools are Rejecting thousands applicats--in the middle of a nursing shortage. Retrieved from CNN.

Knickman, J. (2002). The 2030 Problem: Caring for Aging Baby Boomers. Retrieved from U.S National Institue of Medicine: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1464018/

Pynes, J. E., & Lombardi, D. N. (2011). Human resources management for health care Organizations: A Strategic approach (1st ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

Thompson, D. (2018). Health Care Just Became the U.S's Largest Employer. Retrieved from The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2018/01/health-care-america-jobs/550079/