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Nursing shortage refers to a situation where the demand for nurses is greater than the supply. The total number of , which further drains the number of Nurses available for the Acute Care settings. Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health. (2006). Gale virtual reference library. Retrieved October 19, 2006 from University of Washington Libraries. Other factors that affect the nursing shortage are aging workforce, problems with retention, and difficulty recruiting young people into the field. Stone, P. W., Clarke S., Cimiotti J., & Correa-de-Araujo R. (2004). Nurses' working conditions: implications for infectious disease. [Electronic Version . Emerging Infectious Diseases, 10(11), 1984-9. Retrieved October 12, 2006 from Pubmed (15550212). JOB SATISFACTION There are several reasons mentioned above that contribute to the nursing shortage. Several studies have been done to understand how nurses feel about their Career . About 20 years ago, sociologist Bryan Turner initially identified nurses’ most important complaints as subordination to the medical profession as well as over regulation, and difficult working conditions. Also, a report from the Commonwealth Of Australia identified some of the dissatisfaction as stemming from frequent schedule changes, overloads, shift work, lack of appreciation by superiors and colleagues, as well as lack of Childcare . Inadequate pay was identified as a lesser problem based on the report. Later, a study revealed that the dissatisfaction among nurses focused on conflicting expectations from nurses and managers due to regulation of cost, lack of opportunity to provide comprehensive nursing care, and disillusioned Workforce or “loss of confidence in, and frustration with, the healthcare system.” Limitations to comprehensive care were identified because Nurses are overloaded with the number of assigned Patients , massive paperwork for billing purposes, and short staffing to cut cost. Forsyth, S. & McKenzie, H. (2006). A comparative analysis of contemporary nurses' discontents. Version . Journal of Advanced Nursing, 56(2), 209-216. Retrieved October 25, 2006 from Blackwell Synergy (doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2006.03999). In the past 20 years administrative/government policies and practice has changed very little, cost-cutting is still the priority, patient loads uncontrolled, and nurses are rarely consulted when recommending changes. Mitchell, G. J. (2003). Nursing shortage or nursing famine: Looking beyond numbers? Version . Nursing Science Quarterly, 16(3), 219-24. Retrieved October 12, 2006 from Pubmed (12876879). The major reason why nurses plan to leave the field, as stated by the First Consulting Group, is because of the working conditions. With the high Turnover rate, the nursing field does not have a chance to build up the already frustrated staff. Aside from the deteriorating working conditions, the real problem is “nursing’s failure to be attractive to the younger generation.” There’s a decline in interest among college students to consider nursing as a probable Career . More than half of currently working Nurses “would not recommend nursing to their own children” and a little less than a quarter would advise others to avoid this as a profession all together. Wieck, K. L. (2003). Faculty for the millennium: changes needed to attract the emerging workforce into nursing. Version . Journal of Nursing Education, 42(4), 151-8. Retrieved October 25, 2006 from Pubmed (12710805). NURSING SHORTAGE IMPACT Nursing shortage has the following effects:
The negative impact mentioned above intensifies with the nursing shortage in and Africa are recruited to work for the United States and Europe . PATCHING UP THE SHORTAGE Nursing shortages can be consistent or intermittent depending on the current number of Patient needing Medical attention. In order to respond to this fluctuating census, health care industries have utilized float pool nurses and agency nurses. Float pool nurses are nursing staffs employed by the Hospital to work in any unit within the organization. Agency nurses are employed by an independent staffing organization and have the opportunity to work in any Hospitals on a daily, weekly or contractual basis. Similar to other Professionals , both types of Nurses can only work within their licensed scope of practice, training, and certification. Float pool nurses and agency nurses, as mentioned by First Consulting group, are currently used in response to the current shortage. Use of the said services increases the cost of healthcare, decreases specialty, and decreases the interest in long-term solutions to the Shortage . On the other hand, international Recruitment gives rise to concerns on clinical competencies, cultural sensitivity, and ethics in global Recruitment . | ||
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