Scarce Resource Article

Running Head : SCARCE RESOURCE ARTICLE

No End in Sight to Nursing Shortage : Bottleneck at Nursing Schools a Key Factor

Nursing Shortage : An Issue of Scarce Resource

The present nursing shortage is a serious issue which poses a real threat to the future of the healthcare system especially on patients Research published last year by ANA predicts that the US will have a shortage of 1 million nurses by 2020 (http /bhpr .hrsa .gov /healthworkforce /reports /behindrnprojections /4 .htm , a bottleneck at US nursing schools caused more than 42 000 qualified applicants to

be turned away in 2006-2007 (p .1623

Nursing experts attributed this shortage to five influencing factors First , it is mainly due to the simultaneous graying of the nurse workforce or the age or retirement of older nurses . Second , many are leaving the profession due to overworked and some even migrated to other countries in search for high paying ones . Third , the number (especially the younger generations ) entering the nursing profession continues to decline as they see the lack of stability and thus tend to choose other careers (American Nurses Association , 2003 . Fourth , US nursing schools face a growing faculty shortage , schools lack the physical facilities too few clinical training placements , and limited fund all of these have not been able to keep pace with the demand . Fifth , while it is easy to blame the government for this shortage due to lack of funding for nursing programs , however , equally important is career burn out . It can 't be denied that nursing is one among the many jobs that has a stressful work environment . So , the job itself is responsible for this shortage

Further , CareerJournal .com has surveyed several students who mentioned that the best careers do not include nursing . Some of the respondents mentioned that the lack of funding and facilities to train new nurses poor working conditions in hospitals and poor salary scale make the nursing profession not a compensatory career

What makes this issue even worse is that research studies have found the shortage is already having a proven , adverse effect on the ability to deliver quality healthcare in the US . One important negative effect on patient healthcare is the increased risk of patient deaths as simply there are not enough nurses to safely care for patients . Another is the increased medical errors arising from many complications because of this shortage . All of this equates to the inadequacy to meet the future health care needs of Americans

Because of all these , patient 's safety is threatened and health care quality is deteriorating . This is because nurses are greatly responsible for the majority of patient care , as they perform the vital functions in a patient 's confinement in the hospital and thus providing more face to face services than doctors . But we need to ensure that there are enough registered nurses to meet future demands . What makes this issue even worse is that research studies have found the shortage is already having a proven , adverse effect on the...