Various countries around the world are currently facing critical nursing shortages. Across the globe from Europe to North America to Africa, the society at large has greatly been challenged by diminishing numbers of nurses and the growing need of health care services. The primary problem is that universities and nursing colleges are struggling to increase levels of enrollment in order to meet the growing demand for health care.
Seemingly, the shortage of nurses pays for opportunity though there are consequences to; Nurses are now forced to work longer than expected. They are often needed to work many hours under nerve-racking conditions which could result to injury, job frustrations and fatigue to a great extent. Nurses who are hit by this distress are prone to making medical errors and mistakes which could even lead to the appalling care of patients in hospitals. In the long run, the shortage of nurses is alarming and presenting a bigger challenge to public health awareness which up to this far has seemingly not been addressed at length by various boards such as an extensive national strategy. Also to the public, this issue is very alarming as it has negative implications which have affected health care and the general public. For instance, hospitals currently do not have enough capacity to accommodate the growing number of patients which is a great concern (Dreher, 2011, p. 78).
Arguably, in order to address the issue of nurse looming shortage, maintaining emergency preparedness and keeping pace with the growing demand for nurses, it is estimated that currently, nursing schools need to graduate 30% more nurses annually. Secondly, hospitals greatly need external support of a comprehensive program which is funded by the federal government. In order for this program to work, it will have to deeply emphasize investments in the long-term by increasing incentives to health care organizations and hospitals (Guido, 2010, p. 65).
References
Dreher, H. M., & Glasgow, M. E. S. (2011). Role development for doctoral advanced nursing practice. New York: Springer Pub. Co.
Guido, G. W. (2010). Legal & ethical issues in nursing. Boston: Pearson.
