Nursing Shortage
The first week reading resources of this program have been extremely informative, reflective and even riveting in some instances. There are lots of challenges in nursing in the current era. Public indicates high trust of nurses but there is a lack of understanding about what nurses do.
One of the most concerning issue in nursing today is the ‘Nursing Shortage’. Every article, speech and interview about the nursing shortage notes that there is different type of shortages than that of past. Some contributing factors remain the same, such as women having more choices for a career. Aging of nurses, the general workforce shortages in ancillary professions and support labor. As a result, there is an adverse impact on the nursing workforce. Approximately one third of the nursing workforce is over 50 years of age and average age of full time nursing faculty is 49 years. A study published in the July 2000, issue of JAMA predicts that 40% of nurse by 2010 will be 50 years old or older (Buerhaus, 2000a.) Due to nursing shortage the biggest challenge on the nursing workforce is work overload. The nurse patient ratio is poor as a result poor quality of care. The solution to this problem is to develop strategies to elevate the image of nursing. For example, The University of Maryland School of Nursing is partnering with Gilden Advertising, who is donating $1.2 million in cash, services and in-kind gifts to launch an integrated marketing plan to recruit more students into nursing (University of Maryland School of Nursing Press release, 2000).NURS 3101 Essay Discussions
Another challenge in nursing now days is job satisfaction. Most of the nurses are not satisfied with their job. Statistical surveys on RN job satisfaction shows most of the nurses are intending to leave the profession. There are various reasons which includes nurse bullying, worse nursing leadership, poor team dynamics, overwork and underpaid etc. To improve RN job satisfaction hospital administrators can improve nurse outcomes by collaboration among nurses and between nurses and other health care professionals and strengthening nursing leadership.