- How does the projected nursing shortage specifically impact the profession of nursing and how does this projected shortage influence the public in general?
There can be three possible effects—negative effects that the current situation in the field of allied health medicine, specifically nursing, could inflict on every people who rely on the industry for health and money. If there is a group of people who would suffer the most from the shortage of nurses, not nationally, but in fact, worldwide, that would be the nurses themselves. According to Dr. Peter Buerhaus (2005) in the March to April 2005th issue of the Journal of Nursing Economics, nursing shortage could be a catalyst for the increased work stress on the nurses (due to diminished hours of rest and heavy workloads), diminished patient care quality, and even high employee turnover rates for nursing positions. Things would also go bad for the patients if the current shortage and projected further shortage of nursing staff carries on. They would receive lower quality hospital and nursing care because the nurses would have to do something to address the shortage of manpower and decreasing the quality of healthcare service and time spent for every patient seems to be the most logical consequence. If this continues, things could spiral down, more and more nurses would be prompted to leave their profession, patients would find the standard quality of nursing services they receive ridiculous, and finally, things would definitely turn chaotic for the entire allied medical industry.
- Discuss at least one way in which the nursing profession is working towards a resolution of this problem?
The government as well as the authorities that control the influx and quality of nurses into the field knows for a fact that addressing the issue on the shortage of nurses requires a collaborative effort from the education, healthcare management, government, and media sectors. One way the nursing industry in the U.S. planned to patch the problem was by asking for the support of the government. Fortunately, their plea yielded positive results and so in 2002, the congressed passed and approved the Nurse Reinvestment Act, which aims to provide the necessary resources to advance nursing scholarships, grants, educations, loan repayment programs, diversity programs, specialty educations, faculty programs, and other professional nursing programs . If things go well as planned, this move would significantly increase the number of nurses that enter into practice every year, which provides a direct solution to the current problem.
Works Cited
Beu, B. "The Nurse Reinvestment Act." AORN Journal (2004): 1061-1063.
Buerhaus, P. "Is the Shortage of Hospital Registered Nurses Getting Better or Worse." Nursing Economics (2005).
