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Shortage Health Hospitals

Introduction

The nursing shortage has been increasing at a high rate and hence presents the most significant problem in most of the health castors today. Nursing services is one of the most important factors in the provision of the quality health in most of the health care organization. So you tend to find that if there is a shortage in the nursing, you will find that people will not be in a position to easily access to quality health care and also the delivery of patient cares in the future.

So this is one of the important sectors in most of the countries today. The increasing nursing shortage is then putting a challenge in the provision of the health care. Adequate supply of RNs is very much important in ensuring easy access to quality health care. (Lewis, 2005).

Recently the nurse labour market has undergone several significant changes. You find that in the early 1980s and 90s, there was a nationwide shortage of the RNs but in the rise of the 1994, there was an increasing of the RNs which led to some people to think that the country had an oversupply of nurses. There were more nurses meaning that the supply was more than the demand.

Many researchers were also tempted to think that there would be an adequate supply of nurses in future but this would never happen since many reports were also reported throughout the nation that there were shortages of nurses all over the country. As a result this is an issue which needs to be discussed simply because nurses are very much important all over the country since they ensure that our health is fully catered for. (Lewis, 2005).

Impacts of the nursing shortages

Research shows that the nursing shortages which are been expected in future will tend to jeopardize the financial stability of most of the hospitals all over the world and this is a report which was given by the united states. These shortages will tend to lead to financial instabilities in most of the hospitals, the access to the surgical and medical care since there will be less people to serve the patients, will also tend to decrease the quality of health care in these hospitals plus the waiting times by the patients which will also increase. If this increase continues in the near future most of the people will tend to lose most of their confidents in these hospitals and try to look for other medical measures.

The quality of care will be affected by the nursing shortages. You will find that due to the nursing shortages, the quality of health care will be lowered since there will be few people serving the patients and hence not in a position to serve them so well. The demand for the nursing services will be high as compared to the supply of RNs hence meaning that the services in this case will not be professional since they have to compete for the high demand for patients with the less number of nurses. Research also tells us that 34% of most of the hospitals have received complaints of decreased patient’s satisfaction and the major reason which has led to this is the nursing shortage. (Fox, 2005).

The impact of the workforce shortage in the access of the care is also getting worse. You find that with the nursing shortage in most of the hospitals, these hospitals have not been in a position to provide their services so well and the major problem is that there are few nurses to serve in the many departments of the hospitals. Hospitals are one of the sectors which receive clients all the time and hence the need for more nurses to help in the provision of these services.

You find that in most of the emergency departments they are always overcrowded and these are people who require emergency services but because there are no enough nurses to serve them, these patients are not in a position to get the necessary treatment as soon as possible hence becoming a challenge to most of the hospitals. (Fox, 2005).

Shortages of nurses in the urban hospitals are also bringing a challenge to these people. This is because you find that those hospitals which are found at the urban centers usually serve a large number of people. But due to the shortage of nurses, they have not in been in a position to serve these patients. They have a high number of patients which also include the emergency cases. When compared to the rural hospitals, the urban hospitals serve more people hence leading to the high demand of these people.

So these people have not been in a position to serve them as expected since due to the high number of patients and every patient has to be treated, quality services are not given to these people. Also you find that in most of the rural areas since there is the lack of quality and the availability of nurses, most of the patients are usually transferred to other hospitals and if this particular patient was in need of emergency treatment, it becomes a problem to him. So the issue of nursing shortages is becoming a problem to many people. The below graph show the negative impacts of the nursing shortage in the past year. (Shuman, 2007).

Source: (Shuman, 2007).

Future trends in the nursing sector

As a result of the increasing shortages of nurses in most of the hospitals, many health care administrators have taken an immediate action in order to help curb this particular problem. It has taken the initiative of filling the empty vacancies in most of the hospitals. It has taken the initiative of recruiting and retaining nurses. You find that those nurses who retired have been in a position to be rained in the health sectors so that they can help in the provision of the health services.

In most of the hospitals which have retained the long term strategies, you find that they have changed the recruitment and the retention of the nurse job. You also find that most of the young children never join nursing simply because they are not well paid despite the good job they try to do. So in future, the government has promised on salary increase so that most of the young children who aspire for higher education can join the nursing department and its through this there will be an increase in the number of nurses in future. (Keating, 2003).

They have also the initiative of retaining nurses and they don’t retire at an earlier age just like other sectors. So you find that the government in order to try and curb this problem in future, it has retained most of its employees so that they can be in a position to meet the increasing demand in future. Employers that are best positioned in order to overcome the nursing shortage are those employers who have incorporated both the long term and the short term strategy so that they can be in a position to meet the immediate needs of the staffing needs. Both the long and the short term strategy include training, hiring and also the perception of the new graduates who are trained for specialty areas. As a result you will find that in future the country will be in a position to meet all these needs. (Keating, 2003).

Conclusion

Nursing is one of the most important departments in most of the countries. This is because good health is important to everyone since it’s through good health that we can be in a position to do most of our activities. So, with nursing shortages, then it will mean that our health will be affected hence leading to less production. So the issue of nursing shortages should be addressed to many countries so that they can try and solve this problem since we are in great need of them. (Keating, 2003).

Reference

Lewis, E. (2005): Enhancing cultural diversity in the nursing workforce. The National AHEC Bulletin, 18(1).

Fox, S. (2005): Strategically planning for the future of nursing in California. Journal of Nursing administration, Vol. 29(2).

Sechrist KR, L. (2003): data collection for nursing workforce strategic planning in California. Journal of nursing administration, 29(6).

Shuman, A. (2007): Ensuring ethnic and cultural diversity among California nurses.

Accepted as a Faculty Forum for Journal of nursing education. Vol. 23(2).

Keating, S. (2003): Testing California’s differentiated practice model through industry

And education partnerships. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 26(1).

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