Essay Sample on Nursing Shortage
Nurses have always played a big role in the medical field including being the largest section of the health profession. Some say that the nurses are the backbone of the health care team. Nurse shortages have been a problem for decades. The shortages took a huge hit when the COVID-19 pandemic started in November of 2019. The patient ratio to the nurses have increased which have spiked the stress levels of many, which resulted in many staff quitting from the workforce.
The Desperate Need for Nurses
The need for nurses has increased desperately but with limited seats in nursing programs, hospitals are struggling to find the adequate staffing they need to help with the nursing shortages. Over the ten years between 2019 to 2029, Amanda Perkins, author of Nursing shortage: Consequences and solutions article states that the nursing jobs will only increase by 7%. About 55% of the current nursing staff today ages at 50 years and older. Which results in 1 million RNs will be able to retire within the next 10 to 15 years, Perkins continues. With the estimated 221,900 incoming nurses within the next eight years, that will lead to further nursing shortages. Contributing to the shortages is the working conditions. Many incoming RNs can be concerned with the working conditions and environment that they will be working for. With certain facilities may be better or worse than others. Each facility requires a certain workload for each nurse. With the nursing shortage, it puts more stress on the nurses which may result in the nurses leaving the facility in which they are employed. While the patient numbers are increasing worldwide, it leads to the nurses having a larger workload than what has been deemed as to what they should expect when they are going through the hiring process.
The COVID-19 Effects on the Shortage
The long term effects of the nursing shortages after COVID-19 is that many jobs may be expecting more of a workload in the future than they are now due to the lack of nurses coming into the field as the older generations are transitioning out of the workforce. This means more patients on the nurses load from a day to day basis, possibly longer hours for the nurses. The Bradley University advertises that the future of nurses can lead to many openings. They state that the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that positions known as advanced practice nurses such as nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives and nurse practitioners will increase by 31% by 2024. While job opportunities are increasing, this means that different locations other than the hospital that nurses can practice at.
The Future of Nursing
According to Morris, author of Post-Pandemic Nursing Shortage: What It Means for Aspiring Nurses, the world wide number of nurses were at 27.9 million as of 2020 but the International Council of Nurses (ICN) estimates there will be a 5.9 million shortfall. The article goes on to state that “89% of the shortages were in low-and lower-middle-income countries.” The drop of the 5.9 million nurses within the past year is substantial, the medical field has been one of the most essential jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic from diagnosing the infection to administering the vaccine that had come out in March of 2021. With the drop in nurses, it has brought on some new struggles for the remaining nurses. Many nurses are now struggling with burnout which results in many of them calling out and many not picking up or covering shifts. The ICN proceeds to express their concern for the heavy workloads, burnout, and stress for the nurses, which is a rising concern as the COVID-19 cases are on the rise again.
The Future Nurses
The future for nurses has good news and bad news. With the nursing shortages, there are more job openings for the newly graduated RNs and LPNs. Which ultimately helps with the nursing shortages. The use for LPNs is growing which allows people to get into the nursing profession by going through the 10 to 18 month accelerated programs to get their LPN license. With the LPN jobs on the rise, it is projected to increase by 9% by 2029 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The LPNs do have some restrictions of what they can do with their license, but their presence makes the RNs jobs a lot easier as to the workload. To counter the good, many jobs will look for the experience and the skills that the nurses they hire have. This can make it harder for the students coming right out of college to get the nursing jobs in their desired field of study.
The Global Nursing Shortage
As the nursing shortage continues, the burnout is a big factor including the workload that is put on the nurses. Alot of the burnout and the workload increase has been due to the patient to nurse ratio. Since the pandemic and COVID on the rise, the patient to nurse ratio has increased. The overload of patients has been putting such a strain on the staff that many are leaving because of the dissatisfaction of the job. According to a study that was done in Taiwan in the Environmental Research and Public Health article (2019), within the survey scores shown for the nurses intention of leaving their jobs ranged from 69% to 76%. With the majority of the nurses wanting or thinking about quitting the profession, that leaves a small portion of the nursing staff that would stay. The small portions would then have to take over the workload of the majority who would leave, making it more likely for the remaining staff to possibly join those who left. Globally the nursing shortage has been a serious issue.
Discussion
Overall, the issue with the nursing shortage has been difficult throughout the past few decades. The shortage has been brought to light in the public's eyes mainly through the COVID-19 pandemic through the news sources and has been popularly mentioned through the. The nurses have expressed that they are burned out, stressed and many don’t feel like the people have heard their pleas for help. The stress alone of a deadly pandemic has been a stressful time for not only for the healthcare professions but the public too.
