Focused Activity: Health Professional Shortage Areas Assignment
1. What are the major reasons for the nursing shortage? Provide supporting statistics
or explanations with each reason you provide.
The presence of nurses is critical since they ensure the most accurate diagnosis. Nurses are
critical to the protection of public health. Overall, there is a nursing shortage. The causes for this
are the rising demand for aged population care, the worldwide pandemic, and a shortage of
nursing instructors and professors.
The nurse shortfall is being exacerbated by increased demand for elderly care. We need to
modify statistics because there is a shortage of nurses to care for our elderly population.
According to the US Census Bureau, "By 2034, there will be 77.0 million people aged 65 years
and older compared to 76.5 million under the age of 18. With larger numbers of older adults,
there will be an increased need for geriatric care, including care for individuals with chronic
diseases and comorbidities” (AACN). As a consequence of this information, we can see that our
geriatric population is growing, and thus the demand for nurses is increasing. We may accept that
this is one of many factors as a result of the aging population.
We have all been affected by the global epidemic during the last three years. Nonetheless,
it has had the greatest influence on nurses. According to a recent study conducted by the
American Association of Critical Care Nurses, “92 percent of respondents reported that the
pandemic had “depleted nurses at their hospitals, and, as a result, their careers will be shorter
than they intended.” Sixty-six percent said they were considering leaving the profession because
of their COVID-19 experiences” (Health Affairs). Nurses went through a lot while working
during the epidemic, whether it was physically, intellectually, or emotionally draining. This also
had an impact on the nursing shortage.
Thus, we can observe that there is a nursing shortage due to a shortage of nursing
professors and educators. According to recent research, “80,407 eligible applicants were rejected
from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs mainly due to inadequate faculty” (AACN).
There are not enough people teaching nursing to students, which begins to affect nurses,
resulting in a nurse shortage. As a result of not having adequate aid, nurses have suffered,
contributing to the shortage.
To summarize, nurses are extremely vital to society, and a scarcity of them is beginning
to have an impact on many elements of the shortfall, such as increased demand for elderly
population care, the global pandemic, and a shortage of nursing instructors and professors. We
must take action to alleviate the shortfall.
2. What is the impact of the nursing shortage on patient care? Provide supporting
statistics or explanations with each reason you provide.
The presence of nurses is critical since they ensure the most accurate diagnosis.
Nurses are critical to the protection of public health. The shortage of nursing staff has
started to affect the care of patients. It’s affecting patients with higher morbidity rates,
occurring medical errors, and poor quality of care.
The first indication that the nurse shortage has had an impact on patient care is
rising morbidity rates. When patients do not receive attention and assistance from nurses,
“the risk of a patient dying was increased by 3%. High numbers of admissions per nurse
also increased the risk of death significantly” (Southampton). When patients are ill, they
require the care of nurses. As a result, this study is critical because it demonstrates how a
nursing shortage affects morbidity rates.
As a nurse, the patient's information must be right; otherwise, medical mistakes
might occur, causing injury to the patient. According to research done during the Covid
epidemic, “understaffing not only puts nurses under stress, but it also increases the
chances that they will accidentally harm a patient through a medical error, or be injured
on the job” (Paul Spector). This study shows that the shortage affects not only nurses but
also patients, which might be harmful. Because of the nurse shortage, medical mishaps
arise.
Patients require a great deal of care from their nurses, and not just any sort of
care, because it is their responsibility as nurses to take good care of patients.
Nevertheless, due to a nursing shortage, patients have not been appropriately cared for;
“patients may receive inappropriate care from overworked nurses who cannot regularly
monitor their conditions or properly administer medications” (Nursing Shortage). The
fact that nurses are overworked due to a shortage has an impact on patients and their
treatment, which is critical. Since the beginning of the shortages, the quality of treatment
provided to patients has declined.
To summarize, patient care is critical in the medical industry. It is the
responsibility of nurses to be available to patients. Yet, due to a scarcity of nurses, there
has been a rise in increased morbidity rates, medical mistakes, and poor quality of
treatment.
3. Discuss 5 current strategies to address the shortage.
The first approach we might alleviate the nursing shortage is to provide funds to train
additional R.N.s in underserved places. The second method we may solve the shortfall is
through loan payback and scholarship programs for nurses who work in places where
there is a shortage. The third approach to addressing the shortfall would be to provide
funds for nursing education, practice, and retention to nurses with an associate's or
bachelor's degree. The fourth option to alleviate the deficit is through loans for nursing
faculty development and grants for advanced nursing education and diversity. Finally, we
may alleviate the nursing shortage by encouraging nursing schools to enroll new students
at an early age.
References
https://www.aacnnursing.org/news-information/fact-sheets/nursing-shortage
https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/forefront.20220125.695159/
https://dropstat.com/blog/the-nursing-shortage/
https://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2018/12/nurse-shortage-mortality.page
https://paulspector.com/nurse-understaffing-can-cause-medical-errors/
https://achievece.com/nursing-shortage-how-does-it-affect-patients/
