The Nursing Shortage: a Crisis for the Health of the Country

The Nursing Shortage: a Crisis for the Health of the Country

The Nursing Shortage: A Crisis for the Health of the Country
“In 2000, the supply of full time equivalent RNs was estimated at 1.89 million, while the demand was at 2 million, causing a shortage of 110,000 or 6%. However, even more concerning is the fact that this shortage is expected to almost quadruple (20%) by 2020” (qtd. in 10). There are many causes of this nursing shortage including age, other non-clinical employment for degreed graduates, and tuition burden, but the main cause is lack of faculty to accommodate the amount of interested students in a timely manner. Not only is this shortage causing job dissatisfaction due to the long, grueling hours nurses are often forced to work, it is causing a decline in patient care. If the schools were able to afford the supply of faculty necessary to support interested nursing students, the shortage would not be a devastating problem, as it currently is, is and the increased number of nurses would enhance the quality of patient care.
As anyone one can attest to, quality is directly related to the attention paid. This concept is true in healthcare as well; when a nursing staff runs thin the quality of patient care declines. A study was conducted by Needleman and Vanderbilt’s Buerhaus which analyzed the 1977 records of more than six million patients spanning seven hundred ninety-nine hospitals in eleven states. Their findings revealed that the hospitals with too few nurses had patients that were more likely to develop serious illnesses or expire than those that were properly staffed (qtd. in 2). Much Close attention to detail is an absolute necessity in nursing. Because nurses are overwhelmed with multiple tasks for several patients, they are unable to spend necessary time with each patient and are also physically drained and exhausted. As a nurse, one needs to be able to recognize even the slightest changes those he or she is caring for. If these small changes are not recognized and/or treated, the patient’s...

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