The United States is experiencing a shortage of nurses that threatens the health and lives of individual patients and the country’s health as a whole. This shortage is projected to intensify in the coming years. There are three contributing factors to the nurse shortage in the nation. These include the aging of the Baby Boomers, the increasing need for health care, and the inadequate capacity of nursing schools to train more nurses to meet the rising demand.
First, the aging Baby Boomers have led to a decrease in the number of working nurses and an accompanying need for more services. According to Grant (2016), between 2010 and 2030, there will be an increase of 75% (equivalent to 69 million) in the number of senior citizens. These figures mean that one in every five Americans will have attained the status of senior citizen. By the year 2050, 88.5 million Americans will be over 65 years old (Grant, 2016). These figures point to a decrease in the working population. The available nurses are also increasingly facing an increased burden at work.
Secondly, the aging of the population points to increased healthcare needs. About 80% of the population will have one or more chronic health conditions. Patients with chronic diseases require more healthcare services than health people. The increase in healthcare needs as driven by the aging population is pushing the demand for more nurses (Grant, 2016).
Thirdly, there is a shortage of nursing schools and an inadequate capacity to absorb more nursing students in the existing schools. The existing nursing schools need to be expanded if more nursing students are to be enrolled. In short, the number of annual nursing graduates does not meet the rising demand (Grant, 2016).’
References
Grant, R. (2016). The U.S. Is Running Out of Nurses. The Atlantic. Retrieved 15 January 2017, from http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/02/nursing-shortage/459741/
