Nursing Shortage Measures, Annotated Bibliography Example

Nursing shortage has become an issue in the developed countries today. Nursing shortage is a situation where nurses’ demand is more than the supply. The nursing responsibilities have increased making most patients to have reduced attendance from the nurses. The increased new opportunities among the nurses have drained the number of the nurses in the acute care settings. The aging workforce has also led to nurse shortage as well as retention problems and problems of recruiting the young people (Thomas).

There are several effects that occur due to nursing shortage. They include increased nurses’ patient’s loads: increased error risk: increased infection spread risk between the patient and staff: increased risk for the occupational injury: increased deaths and others (Claire).

Health care industries in responding to nurses’ shortage have utilized float pool nurses and also agency nurses. Agency nurses are those that are employed by a staffing organization that is independent and have opportunity of working in any hospital on daily, weekly or even contractual basis. Float pool nurses are those nursing staffs who are employed by hospital to work in any organization unit (Harriet 50).

There has also been international recruitment of nurses to reduce the shortage arising. Foreign trained recruitment especially by United States has been seen as a stop gap although not a solution to the shortage.

There has emerged a specialized sub set of nursing agency that has evolved lately, this is travel nursing group which often serve the needs of those hospitals that are affected by acute nurse shortage (Claire).

In the process of reducing the shortage of nurses in U.S., a nursing recruitment initiative has been started as well as developing workforce programs to contract this. The initiative helps the nurses to get back to the nursing career or profession especially through credentialing and the exam for nursing board.

Retention and recruitment are very important towards the long term solution to shortage in the nursing sector. The retention of the nurses has significantly reduced the shortage in the nursing field. Another solution has been through incentives and the funding by the hospital and their employers to retain the current staff numbers and this would avoid the aggravating turnover (Thomas).

There has increased encouragement by the governments and other recruiting agents on the importance of entering the nursing field among the young generation. This has significantly worked very well and has been seen to reduce the current shortage of the nurses.

Works Cited

Claire Fagin & Pam Maraldo. The center for Nursing Advocacy.18 Oct. 2007. 5 Dec 2009. http://www.nursingadvocacy.org/faq/nursing_shortage.html

Claire and Pam looks on various reasons on why there is shortage of nurses and why it continues to exist in the various parts of the world. They look at various reasons of why there was nurse shortage in United States and other nations of the world in the 1990’s. They explain why there are shortages of willing nurses, shortage of perceived funding, shortage of understanding by the nurses on delivering care and nurse empowerment and education shortage.

Geraldine, Bednash. “Policy, politics, & Nursing practice.” Nursing workforce 110.35 (7 Nov 2001): 24-45.

Geraldine prepared this journal on work force to address various problems in nursing field. This is prepared and analyzed at American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN).This speaks out of the nursing shortage and calls for more employment of the nurses in this sector. It emphasizes on the need for more production of nurses from all entry programs without focus on varying nurses’ competence from varying educational programs. It emphasizes on the need to increase the nursing workforce in health care sector.

Harriet R. Feldman. The nursing shortage: strategies for recruitment and retention in clinical practice and education. London: Springer Publishing Company, 2003.

Harriet gives various reasons on why there is nursing shortage in the health sector. He also proposes on various strategies for recruiting the nurses and how to increase the labor force in the nursing sector. It gives various ways approaches to undergo in order to be able to recruit qualified nurses in the health sector. Harriet proposes on various education practices that need to be educated to the young nurses for them to be competent.

Kings, Steve. “Nursing Career.” Labor shortage [London] 8 Oct. 2007: A4.

Kings says that the nursing career has been threatened by the shortage of labor which is increasing day by day. He says that this shortage has overwhelmed the departments that are concerned with the labor in health sector. Kings says tat unless this situation is rescued immediately it may not end very soon and may lead to pathetic situations in the health sectors.

Michelle Larkin. Charting Nursing’s Future. 25 Feb. 2006. 6 Dec. 2009. ftp://ftp.hrsa.gov/bhpr/workforce/behindshortage.pdf

This is a publication from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation which addresses the nursing shortage. It analysis various workforces centers and collects and analyzing data collected. It studies the supplies and the demands of nursing workforces at various state levels. It analysis various numbers of nurses and doctors in hospital centers.  It analysis nursing workforce as well as progressive data initiatives in the five states. It gives reasons why there is need to invest in the nursing workforce.

Mireille Kingman. Nurses on the move: migration and the global health care economy. New York: Cornell University Press, 2006.

Mireille emphasizes on the need to allow nurses to move with less restriction from one area to another. This according to Mireille would help rescue the global labor crises in the health care sector especially nurse shortage. The restrictions that are put in place on the immigration department should be relieved to nurses so as to enhance their movement from one place to another so as to relieve the labor shortage in nursing sector.

Robert, Sharon, K. The shortage in the Nursing sector. 1^st ed. London: bell publishers, 2008.

Robert addresses various reasons for the shortage of nurses in the health sector. He proposes on various reasons that should be considered so as to address these shortages that exist. Robert says that this problem needs to be addressed immediately before it becomes a big issue and a threat to the health care. He says that this shortage has increased significantly for the last few years ago due to the negligence by concerned sector or departments.

Robert Wood. “Charting Nursing’s Future.” Addressing the Nursing Shortage 22.4 (2007): 12-34.

Robert wood emphasizes on the nursing shortage and it can be reduced in future. Robert talks about the danger in future if this problem of nursing shortage is not addressed well. Robert says that there should be strategies that should be laid down so as this nursing shortage is well addressed to once and for all. He proposes of various methods that need to be addressed or highlighted in this addressing this problem.

Russell Ford. Global immigration Counsel. 5 March 2009. 6 Dec 2009. http://www.globalimmigrationcounsel.com/2009/03/articles/us-immigration/proposed-nonimmigrant-visa-category-for-professional-nurses-would-help-fix-the-shortage-of-qualified-nurses/

The immigration/global migration group has highlighted various needs to address the shortage of nurses who are qualified. This mainly addresses the need to reduce the visa bureaucracy so as to alleviate the delays by the qualified nurses from moving. It highlights various ways of overcoming the shortages by hiring, recruiting or even employing and retaining the nurses regardless of citizenship country.

Thomas A. Sharon. Nursing Shortage Impacts Hospital Stay. 22 Jan. 2008. 5 Dec. 2009. http://www.bottomlinesecrets.com/article.html?article_id=44227

Thomas says that when the nurse demand is low or down, the demand from the patients are high or up. He reports that when nurses are few, there are very many cases of poor care that are reported or recorded according to Thomas. He proposes on various ways of resolving these problems at various perspectives or angles. He addresses on the impacts of nursing shortage in hospitals and the effects they have on the patients.