Organizational Adaptation Project

Health care shortages and the impact on organizations

When we seek medical care we rightfully expect to receive the best care possible , especially when it comes to matters like surgery , recovery care , and care for family members and friends in nursing homes Unfortunately however , that is not always the case . In the last decade there has been a massive shortage of health care professionals . These huge shortages in health care are causing a significant impact on the quality of treatment for those patients requiring medical care . In addition , many external factors contribute

to the organizations capacity to provide the highest level of quality care to their patients . This review will provide a look at the external factors that contribute to the lack of personnel and the resulting impact on the organization because of these shortages in workers

Patrick Reilly (2203 ) points out that the nursing shortage is affecting the entire force of heath care positions , including home health care nursing homes , radiological treatments , and pharmacists . In addition the shortages are being felt throughout the hospitals administrative positions as well as doctors . These shortages are causing a lower degree of care to the patients ( HYPERLINK "http /www .ahrq .gov /research /nov01 /1101RA12 .html http /www .ahrq .gov /research /nov01 /1101RA12 .html ) The long work days financially constraints and other workforce problems create low morale poor quality care , medical mistakes and even patient death (http /www .hlc .org /html /workforce .html

There is another major reality to the shortage of health care services especially those of nurses . It is know that women have come to enjoy a far greater range of career choices than in the past , and men are still not entering nursing in significant numbers . Men comprise only about 6 of working U .S . nurses . Poor relations with physicians , including lack of physician respect , physician disruptive behavior and major communication failures , continue to be a problem for nurses , especially where nurses ' status is lower . Most women in nursing have not made the gains in workplace empowerment that many of their sisters in other professions have . Required . Unfortunately , a critical nursing faculty shortage driven by inadequate financial support has hampered efforts to train sufficient numbers of nurses nursing schools have turned away or waitlisted many qualified applicant

The health care shortage is complex , but can be divided up between demographics and the economy . Reilly (2003 ) points out that demographics are based on the major fact that the entire workforce is aging and the baby boomers born between 1946 to 1964 will of retirement age in 2011 thus only intensify the competition for workers . And economy we are seeing a major decline in nursing school graduates . Some major quality concerns were outlined at the health workforce shortages web conference that was held in April 2003 : by 2020 there will be a shortage of more than 800 ,000 registered nurses in the U .S . alone , many home health providers and nursing home facilities are reporting turnover rates ranging from 40 - 105 per...