Workforce Issues: The Crisis in Nursing, Article Writing Example

Introduction

This paper explores the evolution of nursing as a profession by examining the issues that have been associated with the increasing scarcity of the registered nurses.   This will involve identification and analysis of the factors that have affects nurses and the nursing practise currently and these contributes to the shortage of the nurses. The final part will consider the implications of all these factors not only on the nursing profession but also on the patient care and delivery of health care.

Description of the crisis in nursing

There has been an increase in the shortage of the nurses in the united state steadily for a number of years now. Centre for American Nurses (2005) posits that the only difference is that the current shortage has begun to affect not only the united state health care but the delivery of healthcare internationally. Some of the issue that  have been said to contribute to these phenomena is the aging of the  registered nurses, availability of more career options and the bad public perception of the nursing profession among the students and young people. In addition, the work environment for the nurses in the united state has not been good leading to many nurses becoming dissatisfied, burnout and quitting. The nurses who are in short supply spend time in non nursing task due to underinvestment information technology and poor design of the work.

The united state government has not put in place policies for the development of the sustainable professional nursing workforce.  This was exemplified in 2003 when more than 11,000 students were not away from the nursing schools due to capacity limitation (Linda, Norman, Donelan, & Buerhaus, 2005).

According to The Centre for American Nurses (2005)   the shortage of nurses in the united state has been estimated to about 150,000. While the government expect to create more than 650,000 new jobs in the nursing sector, the crisis is made dire by the estimation that about 450,000 nurses will retire during the same period. By 2020, researchers argue that the shortage of nurses will increase to 800,000.

A number of studies have projected that the average age of the registered nurse will continue to increase rapidly and reach 45 years by the year 2020.  During the same period, it is estimated that over 40 percent of the nurses in the health care facilities will be over 50 years. This shows that in the foreseeable future, the nursing workforce will be depended on the older registered nurses and their decision to continue in the nursing profession.

Another research investigating reasons for the current  shortage of the registered nurses indicate that it is  because of the increasing option of careers for women, many people in the profession are dissatisfied about the salaries and benefits offered, undesirable working hours and the nursing profession is currently not attracting young talent because it is not considered rewarding.  To avoid the crisis brought by the shortage of the nurses, it is imperative to improve the working conditions and motivation for the nurses. Increment of the benefits and increased training institution have also been indicated as necessary in increasing the number of  the nurses and averting the crisis in the health care provision.

Appraisal of the impact of nursing shortage locally, nationally and globally

The shortage of the nurses in the united state has an effect on the provision of health care services to the citizenry and cannot be ignored.   The shortage of the nurses affects such factors as the emergency preparedness, patient safety and provision of quality care.  The crisis has an impact on the access to health care services especially for the vulnerable populations.

Aiken, Buchan, Sochaisk, Barbara, & Powell, (2003) argues that the US long term nursing needs is too large to be solved through immigration and recruitment of the nurses from abroad. This is further made difficult by the fact that the crisis of the shortage of the nurses is not confined to the US but has become global. Consequently, extraction of the nurses from the other nation has the effect of making the bankrupting the international supply of the nurses and affecting the global health.

The nursing shortages in the united state and other developed countries have increased the recruitment and migration of the nurses from the developing countries. although the this practise has been going on for some time  now  with some countries having approved programs for producing nurses for export,  the escalating recruitment of nurses from poor developing countries has the consequence of depleting the nurses and affecting the provision of heath care services in the less developed countries. For instance, it worth noting that although international resource was available to address HIV/AIDS and other chronic illnesses, Botswana policies of providing free antiretroviral was affected by shortages of the health personnel.

Conclusion

The crisis brought by the shortage in nursing can be resolved by the federal government making smarter investment in the training of the nurses. The hospitals also need to support the education of the new nurses especially in financing. In addition, nursing efficiency needs to be increased so that more nurses are actually doing nursing. This will help to reduce the burnout, job dissatisfaction and quitting of the nurses.

References

Aiken, L., H., Buchan, M., SochaiskI, J., Barbara N., & Powell, V., (2003). Trends In International Nurse Migration, Health Affairs – Volume 33. Number 3. Project HOPE, Health Foundation. Inc.

Centre for American Nurses. (2005) The centre provides recommendations to the White House conference on aging. The American Nurse, 37(5), 10.

Linda D., Norman, K., Donelan, P., & Buerhaus K., (2005). The Older Nurse in the Workplace: Does Age Matter? Nursing Economic/November-December    2005/Vol. 23/No. 6