nursing shortage

 Topic 1 DQ 1

Many factors can create a nursing shortage in a region or specialty. The first factor is the lack of professional educators in the nursing specialty (Haddad et al. 2020). Lack of educators makes nursing students avoid enrolling in nursing specialties. The shortage of nursing student graduates in different nursing specialties may be created by the universities and colleges not offering the courses due to the lack of educators. The second factor is high turnover rates in the nursing specialty (Haddad et al. 2020). One or all the other nursing specialties may be affected when there are high nursing turnovers in the healthcare organization, local, state, or national level. For instance, high turnover rates for the registered nurses in a state may lead to the healthcare organizations and facilities not meeting the nursing staffing ratio guidelines established in the region (Haddad et al. 2020). Some of the major causes of the high turnover rates may include poor nursing working conditions and personal reasons (Haddad et al. 2020). The third factor is inequitable workforce distribution. Nurses may be distributed in some nursing specialties leaving others to struggle with the lower staffing ratios.

The nursing profession uses different strategies to eliminate the shortages of nurses in the affected specialties. Healthcare organizations install technology systems such as Electronic Medical Record systems to improve the working conditions for the nurses (Haddad et al. 2020). The organizations also empower nurses to motivate them to learn and get certification in different nursing specialties. The State of Illinois is facing nursing shortages in other specialties due to the aging workforce. For instance, the registered nurses’ specialty is facing shortages in Illinois. The state established Illinois Nursing Workforce Center (INWC), and the agency was mandated to establish a strategy that would help increase the number of skilled nursing professionals (Eastern Illinois University, 2018). Another way that the nursing shortages in different specialties can be addressed in the state is by introducing capping enrolments to encourage more nursing students to apply.

Using 200-300 words APA format with at least two references that is within five years to support this discussion.