Health Care Professionals Group

What do nurses think about the nursing shortage and the aging of the nursing work force?

I am writing a paper and would like to know what nurses, especailly RNs, think about the current shortage and the aging of the nutsing workforce. In addition, I would like to know what you think about professional organizations. Thank you.

Public Comments

1. Many people are too naive to think about nurse shortage, when they try to get in, and Big SURPRISE to find out : Nurse is very hot, and very difficult to get in Nurse in California.All colleges are 4 to 10: 1, so some schools do lottery, some schools do waiting list around 3 to 5 years. Nurse is very hot, many first year graduates get $80K/ year ,average $120,000 in CA. Why they keep shortage, because Nurse Association is MOST powerful union, and they can get better bargain in shortage situation. But be aware, many hositals will cut nurse salary in next a few year, because so many lost jobs, no job means no insurance, they will not either seeking medical care or without paying bill, who can afford $14,000/year medical insurance for a family of 4. And so many nurse graduates plus huge Filipino and Indian Nurses get licenses in US, If you don't do it in $25/hr, many are waiting up for the position. You also need to know nurse is not a flamboyant career, you take care of sick and dying people, you work between all those difficult people( doctor, patient, insurance, pharmacy and lab...)
2. ...Safe Staffing is very important in the nursing field, for nurses and their patients. Safe staffing will allow the nurse to be able to provide a higher quality of care to the patients. While allowing the nurse to feel more comfortable in the nursing role and preventing burnout and fatigue which lead to a lower quality of care as well as increase the turnover rates for nurses. Many factors are influencing the current nursing shortage. Some of the factors affecting the nursing shortage are that there is an increase demand for nurses due to population growth, a growing elderly population with increasingly complex medical needs, and medical advances that require more nursing time (Erickson and Grove, 2007). Other factors are due to the current and future supply of nurses, fewer women are choosing nursing as a career and the current nurses are getting older and fast approaching retirement. Another big factor in the shortage of nursing is burnout due to job dissatisfaction. Studies show the correlation between burnout and terminating employment. These studies show that burnout might be one of the biggest reasons a nurse would quit her job. “Nurses’ negative feelings about their jobs, including their feelings of burnout, tend to be influenced more by the organizational practices governing the workplace than by the challenges inherent in caring for others (Erickson and Grove, 2007).” A huge factor in job dissatisfaction and burnout is inadequate staffing partly due to the nursing shortage (Erickson and Grove, 2007). Nurse Staffing Affects the Quality of Patient Care “If the environment of care is toxic, nurses will leave, patients will suffer, and in the end, hospitals will lose the money they are trying to save (Curtin, 2003). Nurse staffing directly affects the quality of care that patients receive. Collaborative research shows that having a higher number of registered nurses reduce mortality, length of stay, patient falls, medical errors, nurse turnover and hospital costs. While increasing patient satisfaction, positive patient outcomes, and satisfaction of pain control. Another nurse staffing issue that affects the quality of care that patients receive is overtime. Nurses that work more overtime have shorter reaction time and decreased judgment, which leads to increased errors and a decrease in patient safety. In addition, affecting the outcomes of patients are levels of education and experience (Curtin, 2003). I think professional nursing organizations are an excellent way to stay informed on current nursing issues and to remain involved. A nurse should be politically active and aware. P.s. I am not a nurse, yet.