Nurses and Physician Shortage Crisis
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Nurses and Physician Shortage Crisis
Healthcare is one of the core life necessities that have to be under careful considerations at all times. It deals with the activities revolving around maintenance and improvement of people’s health. The healthcare industry’s sensitivity has seen many people get concerned about this industry’s issues and stressors. One of the pertinent issues affecting healthcare is the shortage of both nurses and physicians. According to an article by Carson-Newman University (2020), last year was recognized as the “Year of the Nurse” to acknowledge the nurses’ critical work. The statistics on the shortage of nurses and physicians are shocking. The global nurses’ shortage lies at a 7.2 million deficit, according to Marć, Bartosiewicz, Burzyńska, Chmiel, and Januszewicz (2019). In America, this shortage is expected to grow at a rate of 24.8 percent by 2030 (Carson-Newman University, 2020). The nurses’ deficit has been attributed to the aged people’s growing population, increased turnover, the retirement of the aged workers, career advancements, and nursing schools cannot hold the required capacity to fill the gap.
Nurses and Physician Shortage Crisis
Nurses and Physician Shortage Crisis
The physician shortage is another menace in the healthcare industry. The United States had a deficit of 91 500 physicians running from medical specialists to primary care workers. The need is expected to rise to up to 121 300 physicians in the next decade, even with suggested interventions (Zhang, Lin, Pforsich, and Lin, 2020). These shortages are adverse patient outcomes, low quality of care, decreased healthcare access, a few staff retained, and uncontrollable healthcare costs. A lack of enough healthcare staff leads to work overload. Work overload causes worker burnout and stress. Burnout leads to errors and mistakes in healthcare organizations. A worked-out team cannot perform, and therefore, the sole objective of a healthcare facility of providing healthcare is compromised. It is essential to have a hard look into the healthcare workers’ crisis before it gets out of hand.
Articles Review
Haddad, L. M., Annamaraju, P., & Toney-Butler, T. J. (2020). Nursing shortage. StatPearls, retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493175/
Haddad, Annamaraju, and Toney-Butler describe nurses as the largest healthcare partner and a critical player in the healthcare industry. The nursing job is expected to need more people in the next year than any other profession, with an average of 15% more in the next five years. The current nursing shortage solution would instantaneously be solved if there were eleven million more than the 3.9 million in the United States.
The article explores some of the reasons for the underlying conditions expressing numerous reasons. These reasons include the aging population where the people above 65 have increased from forty-one million to seventy-one million in 2019 over eight years. The increase has resulted in a significant need for healthcare services. The age of the nurses has been another issue. A third of the nursing population is 50 and above and is expected to retire in a few years, creating a huge deficit. Burnout has also seen many nurses migrate to other professions after realizing the nursing job is not what they expected. Families and careers have also been a constant threat to the nursing population, where the female workers concentrate on families or move to other fields after maternity leaves. Risks of abuse in the nursing area have discouraged potential staff and created a stressful environment for the existing workers. They are at a constant threat of physical or emotional abuse. All these reasons lead to uneven staff ratios, which significantly affect the work input and output.
Some of the interventions proposed by this article include technology and empowerment. Technology can be an aid in job performance and therefore reducing work stress. On empowerment, the healthcare facilities are encouraged to seek ways to ensure a conducive work environment. A conducive environment ensures retention and boosts workers’ morale in job performance.
Zhang, X., Lin, D., Pforsich, H., & Lin, V. W. (2020). Physician workforce in the United States of America: forecasting nationwide shortages. Human resources for health, 18(1), 8.
The physicians have been pinpointed to be a cornerstone in the provision of quality healthcare. The growing physician demand has outgrown their supply, a trend expected to only grow in the next decade. This article proposes a methodology used to assess physicians’ status in America and predict their future numbers. The shortage statistics are projected on a supply and demand curve for each of the fifty states.
The results indicated a significant shortage at the national level. The south and the western regions were predicted to be worst hit with needs of 92 172 and 63 589 jobs, respectively. Among the states, the states of California, Florida, and Texas will lead in the physician deficit projection. Mississippi, New Mexico, and Louisiana have leading predictions on the shortage ratio. By 2030, physicians’ shortages are expected to be severe, with more than half of the states running significantly low.
Some of the proposed solutions to this issue include seeking interventions from foreign physicians. The United States has an inviting tradition with more than 215 630 already working in the US healthcare system. Such technologies as artificial intelligence are also expected to aid in this crisis. Physicians’ roles are expected to evolve from knowledge base to skill base, where knowledge will be provided technologically. There are also legal interventions in terms of policy development, which will increase physicians’ supply. The medical schools are expected to increase their intake capacity to build a more significant medical graduate population.
Nurses and Physician Shortage Crisis
Strategies
The shortage of nurses and physicians can be addressed through such interventions as embracing new technologies. The latest developments have seen a rise in people’s number depending on inventions such as health apps and telemedicine (Buerhaus et al., 2017). The use of these inventions reduces the workload of health workers and therefore eliminating works stress and burnout. Elie and Antoine (2015) suggested reimbursement as an incentive to lure people into the physician profession. Building new schools and expanding the existing ones will help increase more physician and nursing students into the career. An increase in residency programs will see a rise in the number of physicians. They should ease policy regulations for international practitioners. Reducing the complexity in acquiring licenses to work in the United States as a healthcare provider would encourage many practitioners to migrate to the US. State, federal and corporate support for the profession. All leadership levels have to rally together in addressing this challenge and ensuring support both financially and policy wise. The facilitation of suitable working environments will also ensure staff retention by eliminating risks of physical and emotional damages.
Addressing the shortage of physicians and nurses will make sure the objective of patient care is achieved. There will be an increased supply for both nurses and physicians in the healthcare sector. The ratio of workers to the assigned patients will reduce ensuring good quality of service provision. The legistative part’s improvement will encourage foreigners to work in the country, reducing the worker deficit experienced.
References
Buerhaus, P. I., Skinner, L.E., Auerbach, S.I., & Staiger, D.O. (2017). State of the Registered Nurse Workforce as a New Era of Health Reform Emerges. Nursing Economic$, 35(5), 229–237.
Carson-Newman University (2020). Important Nursing Shortage Statistics. Retrieved from https://onlinenursing.cn.edu/news/important-nursing-shortage statistics#:~:text=With%202020%20being%20recognized%20as,in%20their%20commu ities%20and%20beyond.&text=By%202030%2C%20the%20nursing%20shortage,milli n%20nurses%20will%20be%20needed.
Elie M. & Antoine M. (2015). Addressing Physician Shortage in the Era of the Affordable Care Act. The American Journal of Cosmetic Surgery, retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.5992/AJCS-D-14-00032.1
Haddad, L. M., Annamaraju, P., & Toney-Butler, T. J. (2020). Nursing shortage. StatPearls, retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493175/
Marć, M., Bartosiewicz, A., Burzyńska, J., Chmiel, Z., & Januszewicz, P. (2019). A nursing shortage–a prospect of global and local policies. International nursing review, 66(1), 9 16.
Zhang, X., Lin, D., Pforsich, H., & Lin, V. W. (2020). Physician workforce in the United States of America: forecasting nationwide shortages. Human resources for health, 18(1), 8.
Nurses and Physician Shortage Crisis
Question
• Describe the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected and its impact on your organization. Use organizational data to quantify the impact (if necessary, seek assistance from leadership or appropriate stakeholders in your organization).
• Provide a brief summary of the two articles you reviewed from outside resources on the national healthcare issue/stressor. Explain how the healthcare issue/stressor is being addressed in other organizations.
• Summarize the strategies used to address the organizational impact of national healthcare issues/stressors presented in the scholarly resources you selected. Explain how they may impact your organization both positively and negatively. Be specific and provide examples.