External Issues Affecting the Healthcare Workforce - Essay Example

            One of the external factors affecting the healthcare workforce today is the growing number of patients. There is a constant rise of patients as compared to the health care workforce. In addition, the growing number comes with different and new diseases that need to receive treatment. This has posed a challenge to the unprepared healthcare workforce.

            The growing number has caused a negative impact on healthcare. This has caused overstretching of the limited resources and the overall delivery quality. As the workers are overworked, they lose morale, and their delivery quality drops. It is difficult to maintain quality care under these conditions. The growing population should match the number of available resources (Harris, 2005).

            A major way of dealing with this issue includes increasing the workforce. Recruitment is important to see that all areas are working in a proper manner. The workforce should be highly trained in order to handle the patients in the best way. The system should encourage the training of experts in all fields to avoid the lack of personnel in a field when its demand arises.

An additional approach in solving this issue is through the government ensuring that there are enough resources to serve the growing population at ease. It is the work of the government to plan for the growing number and put in place mechanisms of controlling the growth. It should also invest, in research, to find out preventive measures for some diseases in order to reduce the demand for healthcare (Harris, 2005).