Shortage of Nurses in the USA - Essay Example

The “Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections” for the period 2012-2022 has warned that the demand for Registered nurses during the coming years shall remain very significant as 525,000 replacement nurses will be needed during this period, thus bringing the total projected requirement to .05 million by 2022 (Nursing Shortage, 2014).

The “United States Registered Nurse Workforce Report Card and Shortage Forecast” has published in the American Journal of Medical Quality- January 2012 issue that the shortage of nursing force across the USA shall be severe during the period ranging from 2009 to 2030, this will be alarming in the south and west America (Nursing Shortage, 2014). 

Employment conditions, which span from long working hours to disappointment and job dissatisfaction, among the nursing force throughout the world is a major reason for experienced nursing staff shifting their professional career to more comfortable jobs. The recently developed “work-from-home culture” reinforces this concept (Ferrell et al, n.d.).

Another major factor refers to the considerable percentage of the nursing force nearing retirement age in the USA. According to “Health Resources and Services Administration”, the number of registered nurses reaching retirement age during the next 10 to 15 years shall be more than one million (Nursing Shortage, 2014). Since the replacement rate has not matched the retirement percentage, the problem remains escalated.

The employer-employee relationship has changed over the years. Professional workers are getting more loyal to work than to their employers. In addition, employees are looking forward to opportunities that can offer them better solutions to manage their professional and personal lives. Working from home gives them sufficient time to manage their duties like childcare, laundry at home, and house cleaning, among other jobs. Employers have recognized this need of the current workforce and offer solutions that can give more advantages to employees for managing their professional and personal lives, in a comfortable manner.

Hence, there is a need to look at this problem from the current perspective, which is different from the last shortage experience in the country. Rapid advances in internet technology have made it possible now to complete work assignments from the comforts of home, while job responsibilities are not compromised. This has given new meaning to the “manager-managed” equation.

Bold changes in educational policies and government regulations, regarding admission to nursing institutions and recruitment in the healthcare industry, are required to manage the shortage of nurses in the USA. This includes increasing the faculty force in nursing institutions. Robert Rosseter, a spokesperson at the “American Association of Colleges of Nursing” has informed that around 79000 qualified admission seekers were declined, due to a shortage of adequate faculty, in 2013 (Ramachandran, 2014).

As is evident from various reliable sources, the impending shortage of nurses can be met with comprehensive reforms in education and government policies, in a direction that can boost the recruitment of nursing staff substantially.