One of the projected problems of United States in the near future is the shortage of registered nurses. Most of the experts are expecting nursing shortage since the need of medical care and the quantity of baby boomers increases. According to the American Health Care Association, there are about 19,400 needed nurses in the position of long-term medical care. In addition, 116,000 registered nurse vacancies exist in hospitals according to the American Hospital Association. These statistics are acquired in 2010. In general, the national registered nurse vacancy rate of the United States is about 8.1%. In the global scale, there are about 4.3 million registered nurse vacancies according to the World Health Organization (Rosseter, n.d.).
According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, there are about 2.8 million registered nurses in the United States. In addition, there are about 690,000 licensed practical or vocational nurses who are part of the nursing workforce. In the current demographics of the nursing workforce, it could be observed that the average age of nurses is high. About 33 % of the nursing workforce has an age older than 50. Majority of the nursing workforce are women and only 9% of the total number of registered nurses is men. The proportion of non-white registered nurses is about 25% (Rosseter, n.d.).
One of the main factors which contributed to the problem of the shortage of registered nurse is the lack of growth or development in the nursing school enrolment. The supply of registered nurse in the labour market is not growing enough to support the demand for the registered nurse services. Another reason is the demographics of the nursing workforce. Large proportion of the nursing workforce is near retirement age. Other reasons include lack of job satisfaction, high stress level of nurses and aging population.
There are several strategies for effectively recruiting nurses or students who will pursue a nursing career. One of these strategies is the progress in the nursing academe. Universities and schools have an important role in improving the labour market for the field of medical care. They should inspire students to pursue the nursing career by providing information regarding the large job opportunities for nurses. Universities should also provide enough faculty and staff to support the large demand of nursing students.
These universities who have degree programs in the field of nursing should also seek partnership and support from private organizations in order to increase the number of students. It could expand the enrolment in the universities as well as provide support to their programs. The government should also provide necessary policies and regulations in order to support the strategies of increasing the enrolment rates of nursing students.
The shortage of registered nurse is a national and global problem. It is expected to be more intensified due to the social and economic problems such as high demand of medical care, ageing population and changing demographics in the society. Some of the factors for the shortage of registered nurses include lack of job satisfaction in the field, lack of growth in the academe sector of the field of nursing and ageing population. Both the public and the private institutions that have the duties and responsibilities in providing health care to the people also have important roles in providing solutions to the nursing shortage problem. The universities and other private institutions should unite in providing strategies for increasing the enrolment rates of nursing students.
Reference
Rosseter, R. (n.d.). Nursing Shortage. American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Retrieved from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media-relations/fact-sheets/nursing-shortage.
