Essay On Nursing Shortage

There are a number of threats to health care in The United States. The cost of insurance is costly, the majority of Americans have unhealthy lifestyles, there is an epidemic of obesity and diabetes, and health care is inaccessible to many individuals. Although these problems seem overwhelming, a larger threat to the health care system has arrived and is forecasted to only will only get worse: the shortage of nurses. 

The nursing shortage has been felt in every corner of the healthcare market. Why does it exist? Part of the problem is nursing is no longer a glammer job. Many people have a limited understanding of nursing, and so the perception by many is that nursing is a job without rewards. Also, nurses don’t get paid very well. Survey results reported by Mattera (1985) found that most nurses are dissatisfied with their salaries. Many in the profession believe the only way to improve their salaries is to form unions. Although some nurses feel this is necessary, many nurses feel this is unprofessional. Low salaries, poor working conditions, and decreased perception that nursing is a profession have causes many nurses to leave the profession for higher paying and more satisfying jobs. Another problem is nursing schools. Nursing school admissions have become very strict and limit the number of students who are admitted. If schools could increase the number students admitted into nursing programs, there would be more nurses. There are not as many nursing faculty anymore either because they are retiring faster than they can be replaced.(DeYoung, 2002). This makes it difficult to increase enrollment. 

The problem with the nursing shortage is getting worse by the Baby Boomers. It is estimated that by the year 2025 the aging index (that is the number of individuals over age 60 for every individual age 15) in the united States will be 122 (US Census Bureau). Obviously these numbers point to the plain fact that there won’t be enough nurse to take care of this rapidly growing population of elderly. This makes it additionally hard to attract young people into nursing. Plus, many of the nurses who have stayed in the profession will retire faster than new nurses can be trained. 

Solutions 

Although there seems to be little hope for this “doomsday” profession, I do have some simple solutions. I think one answer to this big mess is to change the role of the nurse. If the role of the nurse was more positive, and if nurses could earn higher salaries, it would be easier to attract people into the profession and the shortage could be minimized. Another strategy is to focus on nursing retention (Davidson, SB, 2003, p. 11). Finally hospitals should consider hiring more non-licensed personnel like a nursing tech to provide direct care to the patient. One nurse could perhaps supervise up to 4 techs, and if each tech was taking care of 3-4 patients, then nurses could be in charge of up to 16 patients and you would need fewer nurses. 

REFERENCES 

Mattera, M.D. (1985). Nursing pay: whos doing best now. RN, 48(11), 32-39. 

Sandra DeYong (2002) The nursing faculty shortage: Is there hope? Journal of Professional Nursing. 18(6): pp 313-319. 

U.S. Census Bureau Aging in the Americas into the 21st Century. Available at http://www.census.gov/population/www/