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Nursing shortage Practice edits that could be made. (For a class project)

Nursing shortage refers to a situation where the demand for nursing professionals, such as Registered Nurses (RNs), exceeds the supply—locally (e.g., within a health care facility), nationally or globally. It can be measured, for instance, when the nurse-to-patient ratio, the nurse-to-population ratio, the number of job openings necessitates a higher number of nurses than currently available, or the current amount of nurses is above a certain age where retirement becomes an option and plays a factor in staffing making the work force in a higher need of nurses. This situation is observed in developed and developing nations around the world.

Nursing shortage is not necessarily due to a lack of supply of trained nurses. In some cases, perceived shortages occur simultaneously with increased admission rates of students into nursing schools. Potential factors include lack of adequate staffing ratios in hospitals and other health care facilities, lack of placement programs for newly trained nurses, inability for students to complete schooling in general or with the appropriate grade and inadequate worker retention incentives. The reduced number of nurses today does play a role in shortages across the world, though.

Under 'Causes' I would add: Another study conducted by Peate and their colleague's have proven that the inability to provide effect and efficient care to patents caused nurses to question their job abilities and fear that their job was at stake.

Under 'Impacts on healthcare' I would add: There is an increase in the amount of nurses suffering from nurse burnout due to an extreme increase in stress. Extensive amounts of stress on the human body lead to psychological, mental and, physical health effects such as headaches, body aches, sleep disruption, chronic fatigue which in the long run can lead to anxiety, depression, somatic symptoms.

Under 'Patching up the shortages' or 'Legislation' I would add: In assistance to the shortage of staff when it comes to nursing, Pearce (2018) declared in the study conducted that the Federal Registered Nurse Staffing Act that has been put into Congress since 1998 came out with a current updated version called The Safe Staffing for Nurse and Patient Safety Act, which looks to “create a unique staffing plan for each unit; and consider nurse experience, patient intensity of need, staff skill mix, and other resource availability, such as availability of technology”.

Under 'Patching up the shortage' I would also mention: Individuals from groups such as ONA worked with OHA to test the impact that RN staffing had on patient health care. After uncovering crucial information Nurses from across the states joined these group members to find ways to be able to assign responsibility where it was needed which resulted in the impact of staffing shortages. This acts resulted in the "Nursing 2015 Initiative which built personal relationships and new-found trust".

Retention and recruitment are important methods to achieve a long-term solution to the nursing shortage. Recruitment is promoted through making nursing attractive as a profession, especially to younger workers, to counteract the high average age of RNs and future waves of retirement. Refining the work environment can improve the overall perception of nursing as an occupation. This can be achieved by ensuring job satisfaction. A few ways the academic nursing administrators can make a change in illustrated from the writers Lori Candela, Antonio Gutierrez, and Sarah Keating in their journal, Nurse Education Today. "Individual support to attend workshops or conferences, participation in on-campus teaching/learning faculty sessions, the use of consultants with expertise in particular areas around teaching and evaluation, and mentoring networks that include senior faculty with teaching expertise" can all create a strong relationship between staff members therefore developing a better environment. Additionally, financial opportunities such as signing bonuses can attract nurses individuals are more likely to participate in activities when there is an advantage in it for them.

On an individual basis, foreign nurses are subject to exploitation by employers. In 1998 six Americans were charged with falsely obtaining H-1A visas and using them to employ Filipino nurses as nurse aides instead of registered nurses.[citation needed] In a case in 1996, a Catholic archdiocese employed some of these foreign nurses as nurse aides instead of nurses.[citation needed] In 2000, Filipino nurses in Missouri received $2.1 million for failure to receive proper wages that an American in the same position would receive. While these cases were brought to court, many similar situations are left unreported thereby jeopardizing the rights of foreign nurses.[citation needed] Foreign nurses have the tendency to receive less desirable jobs, such as entry-level positions, because of their immigrant status; they are excluded from jobs that would lead to facilities and are often not paid proper salaries.[citation needed]

Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates a shortage of almost 4.3 million nurses, physicians and other health human resources worldwide—reported to be the result of decades of underinvestment in health worker education, training, wages, working environment and management. These will continue to be reoccurring issues if not disentangled now.

Nursing shortage is an issue in many countries. To interpret the problem, psychological studies have been completed to ascertain how nurses feel about their career in the hope that they can determine what is preventing some nurses from keeping the profession as a long-term career. In a study completed by sociologist Bryan Turner, the study found that the most common nursing complaints were:

Increase in nursing turnover, thereby leading to greater costs for the employer and the health care system

In many jurisdictions, administrative/government health policy and practice has changed very little in the last decades. Cost-cutting is the priority, patient loads are uncontrolled, and nurses are rarely consulted when recommending health care reform. The major reason nurses plan to leave the field, as stated by the First Consulting Group, is because of working conditions. With the high turnover rate, the nursing field does not have a chance to build up the already frustrated staff. Aside from the deteriorating working conditions, the real problem is "nursing’s failure to be attractive to the younger generation." There's a decline in interest among college students to consider nursing as a probable career. More than half of currently working nurses "would not recommend nursing to their own children" and a little less than a quarter would advise others to avoid this as a profession altogether. Nursing is a common career interest until the challenging classes present themselves in college and a decent amount of students decide that's not what they want anymore, they think its too much and they cant handle it.