Bookmark the RN Journal
in your Favorites File for easy
reference!
|
Nursing shortage complications attributed to the lack of funding for educational programs impacts the availability of laboratories, clinical facilities, as well as nurse educators and, as previously stated, potential number of students pursuing a career in the medical field. In addition to this trend, the nursing shortage is compounded by the fact that registered nurses will be reaching the retirement age within the next decade. In other words, the scarcity of students being prepared for nursing posts falls short as the projected retirement pattern of the older workforce is increasing, creating hospital nursing vacancies. In fact, due to the retirement trend, it is estimated that the nursing workforce shall fall by 20% below the demanded level in 2020. The nursing shortage does not pose discomfort solely for the patients, but it creates discomfort for nurses themselves as well. The unfilled nursing posts in hospitals create unfavorable working conditions due to factors such as short-staffing, shift-work, an excess of patients per nurse, and therefore nurse retention issues, which contribute to the long-term shortage. As an alternative, registered nurses are looking toward employment opportunities beyond the scope of hospital stations, a trend that has developed significantly in the past several years. Specifically, Mary E Kelleher explains that alternatives to “bedside” positions may be sought after in health clinics, home health care agencies, attorney offices, et cetera, steadily redirecting nurses to new positions. “The expansion of employment sites has increased the number of positions that attract the professional RN, and decreases the applicant pool for the hospitals.”[3] There is a solution to direct the nurses back to hospital “bedside” positions and ensure improved educational outcomes, it is just a matter of “thinking outside the box,” as Kelleher suggests, “and look at how to train students in the clinical setting, combining the best features of the former “diploma” programs with the current academic programs.” Indeed there is a solution Keefe points out, “increasing the capacity of the educational institutions to accommodate the interested students into their programs is critical. Improving the salaries of clinical educators would be an important step.”[4] In fact, many statewide actions are underway to address the nursing shortage both in the hospital and educational setting. Millions of dollars in funding are raised for scholarship programs that enable registered nurses to earn graduate degrees required for educators. Additionally, hospitals are now slowly putting effort into subsidizing nurse faculty strategies, reimbursing nurses for advancing their educations, as well as seeking private support to strengthen the nursing workforce both on the hospital and educational front. [1] Kelleher, Mary E. (2007, Nov. 4th). Telephone interview. [2] Kelleher, Mary E. (2007, Nov. 4th). Telephone interview. [3] Kelleher, Mary E. (2007, Nov. 4th). Telephone interview. [4] Keefe, James M. (2007, Nov. 28th). Vice President of Inpatient Services at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, Massachusetts. Interview.
|
Digg
Facebook
Google Bookmarks
Stumbleupon
Livejournal
Twitter
-
Relationships among the Elderly: The Effects on One’s Health and Psychosocial Well Being
Advances in medicine are allowing many adults to live longer lives than previous generations. In fact, the elderly population is becoming one of the largest growing sectors of the present ...
-
Nurse’s Legal Plight
A poem...!
-
Looks Can Be Deceiving
I asked his family to step out for a moment so I could empty his JP drains. I emptied them into a basin and I noticed that they were very dark. I inspected them a little closer and I noticed it had a ...
-
Culturally Competent Nursing in Homecare
Homecare nurses must be culturally aware in order to appropriately care for homecare patients. Culture plays a part in the care of all types of patients but it plays a more important role in homecare.
-
The Importance of Supporting Mothers Who Breastfeed
There are many health benefits to breastfeeding children such as lower mortality rates, ideal nutritional values, and long term benefits such as healthy weights and higher intelligence later in life. ...
-
Maximizing Pain Relief in Pediatric Patients
Pain management is a complex issue that has become increasingly significant in the nursing profession; so much so that the assessment of pain has become known as the fifth vital sign. This issue ...
-
TO GOWN OR NOT TO GOWN?
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) states that standard precautions should be used for all patients and should be enough to prevent the spread of most MRSA cases. However, in acute-care settings ...
-
Family Presence During CPR in the Emergency Department
A descriptive survey conducted in 2000 (Myers, et al 2000) investigated attitudes and beliefs of patients’ families and ER staff members about FWR. The survey reported that 98% of patients’ ...
-
Keeping a Positive Outlook: My Clinical Experience as a Student Nurse
My experience in my senior year clinical preceptorship was without a doubt unique but I feel its uniqueness was in what I made of it, something every nursing student can do for themselves. If there ...
-
Managing Diabetic Patients on Dialysis: The Nurse and Practitioners Role in Multidisciplinary Team Essentials
The chronic state of diabetes mellitus (DM) mainly type II, is an increasingly common cause of end stage renal disease (ESRD) in all countries, accounting for 51% of dialysis patients in the U.S. and ...
-
A Solution for Solving the Nursing Shortage? Advantages and Disadvantages of Recruitment of Foreign-Trained Nurses
The Nursing shortage is not only an American dilemma but a phenomenon threatening the entire global community. Developed, as well as undeveloped, countries are experiencing an increasing number of ...
-
Memories from a Haitian Cholera Treatment Center
In January and February of this year I worked in Haiti with United States NDMS DMAT and ImSurt teams providing medical and surgical care to the victims of the January 12th earthquake. What I ...
|
|
|