The nursing shortage is becoming a major cause for concern across the United States, which is a multifaceted problem requiring strong and direct legislative intervention. The severity of the problem became more prominent during the COVID-19 pandemic when healthcare facilities became and still are overwhelmed by an influx of patients who need extensive nursing care. We, the nursing community, would like you to voice the issue in the legislative arena and propose immediate and effective solutions.
- The American population is aging, which means that the ramifications of nursing shortages will become even more extensive in the coming years. It is stated that the baby boomer generation is entering an age where more healthcare services are needed (Haryanto, 2019).
- Although the nursing shortage is affecting major cities and population centers, it is the rural regions, which will be affected the most due to a lack of infrastructure, educational units, and lack of resources (Haryanto, 2019).
- A major part of the nursing shortage is the reciprocal effect of the given problem on the nursing education process. It is stated that “it takes a nurse to educate a nurse,” and with aging nursing professionals, the nursing shortage might become irreversible when there is a highly limited pool of on-duty nurses to train nursing students (Haryanto, 2019, p. 2).
The implication of the nursing shortage on the current nursing professionals is extensive since it directly contributes to a higher workload on each individual nurse, increased work-related stress, and subsequent elevation of nursing errors, which in turn, decrease the overall quality of care for the patients.
In conclusion, the first possible solution is to allocate more grants and scholarships for students interested in the nursing field, making it more affordable for people to enter this profession. The second recommendation is to involve international networks to enable professional immigration for foreign nursing specialists.
Reference
Haryanto, M. (2019). Nursing shortage. Orthopaedic Nursing, 38(1), 1–2. Web.