The Impact of the Nursing Shortage - Essay Example

The Impact of the Nursing Shortage In a UPI article by Alex Cukan d Caregiving: Bigger nursing shortage looms, the points out the immediate shortage of qualified nurses and warns that the problem will worsen in the near future. The November 29, 2005 article explains that as the baby boom generation gets older, more of them will enter the health care system and continue to compound the problem. Adding to the additional workload is the rising median age of nurses that will translate into higher numbers of retirees from the field in coming years. These factors combine to indicate we will be losing many qualified nurses just as they are in greatest demand. The statistics bear out what the author projects. Cukan reports that in the next decade just over 600,000 nurses will enter the field. However, this will be 500,000 fewer than the anticipated job openings and will leave the profession short by more than one million nurses. She further states that as many as 20 percent of registered nurses have left the profession in recent years. Though bringing these skilled workers back into the workforce would help alleviate the shortage, the author points to the expense and difficulties involved with recruiting and retraining these former nurses. Cukan offers a possible solution to the shortage problem when she discusses hiring nurses from other countries. She says 60,000 nurses currently working in the United States come from Canada, England, and Ireland. However, she warns that tapping the pool of qualified nurses from developing countries runs the risk of creating a global nursing shortage. This would leave developing countries at risk and unable to provide quality health care and adequately manage disease. She says that 85 percent of the nursing organizations around the world indicated they were currently experiencing a nursing shortage. This represents 69 countries and will further limit the supply of qualified nurses. The long-term impact of the nursing shortage will become increasingly more significant in several areas. The primary concern will be the impact it has on the ability of nurses to provide quality health care. With fewer staff, nurses are required to work longer hours and assume additional responsibilities. Overworked nurses, burdened with fatigue and job stress, are more prone to accidental errors and a reduction in timely medical attention. A survey of registered nurses indicated that 79 percent of hospital employed RNs believed that short staffing contributed to a reduction in the quality of patient care (Buerhaus et al, 2005). A long term and escalating nursing shortage could contribute to the 98,000 deaths per year due to medical errors as reported by the Institute of Medicine in 2000 (Buerhaus et al, 2005). Aside from the important issue of the quality of patient care is the factor of rising health care costs. As the labor supply of qualified nurses shrinks, the competition for nurses increases. A wage war may result from the shortage and will contribute to the rising costs as hospitals increase the wages and compensatory packages for their staff. Costs associated with temporary hiring practices have also increased due to the shortage. While an increase in wages may seem to benefit the nurses, increased demands may not be worth the cost. Nurses working extended shifts and longer hours may come under increased scrutiny from administrators and government regulators struggling to eliminate the human errors and the increased cost of malpractice insurance. According to Rivers, "An increase in errors related to fatigue significantly increases the cost of malpractice insurance". The continuing nursing shortage will have its greatest effects on future nurses that will be entering the field or are currently enrolled in a nursing program. Nursing, a field that will have the greatest number of job openings in the next decade, may find it is short of qualified instructors in the future. As wages increase, instructors may be tempted to leave teaching positions and take a position as a practicing nurse to reap the economic benefits. This will inevitably result in fewer programs and leave many people who wish to become a nurse without a program to attend. If schools are forced to increase pay dramatically to keep qualified personnel, they may need to cut programs or increase tuition accordingly. Specialty training, a vital component of todays nursing curriculum, may be unavailable to nurses due to realistic cost considerations. The nursing shortage may result in many nurses unable to complete the education they desire. While the nursing shortage has many elements that can impact the nursing profession negatively, there may be a silver lining. The current shortage and the prospects for the future have brought the nursing issue into the spotlight and created greater public awareness. Senate hearings in recent years have initiated studies and programs designed to alleviate the shortage and create better working conditions for working nurses. The shortage has resulted in the Nurse Reinvestment Act, which provides $137 million in scholarship and educational aid for nurses to enter nursing and advance in their field (Rivers, 2005). These programs, public attention, and government involvement will enhance the conditions for todays and future nurses. The nursing shortage impacts the field of nursing with the burden it puts on scarce human resources. It creates increased stress and difficult conditions for our nurses. Many nurses, in an attempt to fulfill their professional obligations, may be placing themselves at risk by reducing quality care. Importing nurses from developing countries may have ethical implications for the nursing profession if it leaves these nations without medical staff. Yet, the increased attention that the shortage has garnered may result in increased opportunities for nurses as the public turns its attention to solving the problem and creates innovative programs to benefit the nursing profession. References Buerhaus, P., Donelan, K., Ulrich, B. T., Williams, M., Dittus, R., & Norman, L. (2005). Hospital RNs’ and CNOs’ Perceptions of the impact of the nursing shortage on the quality of care. Nursing Economics, 23(5), 214-221. Cukan, A. (2005, November 29). Caregiving: Bigger nursing shortage looms. UPI. Retrieved April 3, 2006, from LexisNexis Rivers, P. (2005). The financial impact of the nursing shortage [Electronic version]. Journal of Health Care Finance. from EBSCO. 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