Clinical Problems Coping With the Nursing Shortage Research Paper

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Clinical Problems:

Coping With the Nursing Shortage

Like many healthcare institutions, Nightingale Home Care Inc., in La Mesa, CA is suffering from a severe staffing shortage. The nursing shortage has been a persistent problem within the profession for many years due to what has been called a perfect storm of circumstances. First, the aging of the population as a whole has increased the demand and need for more nurses. People are living longer yet require more assistance from the healthcare profession to navigate the problems of aging. Chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and osteoarthritis are likewise on the rise in the elderly population and this requires continued monitoring and support. Secondly, the current population of RNs is itself aging and leaving the profession for retirement. A third, concurrent problem is that nursing schools lack sufficient faculty to admit and teach even all qualified candidates who do wish to become RNs.

The nursing shortage can have severe repercussions for patient health. According to a 2011 New England Journal of Medicine study, "insufficient nurse staffing was related to higher patient mortality rates. These researchers analyzed the records of nearly 198,000 admitted patients and 177,000 eight-hour nursing shifts across 43 patient-care units at large academic health centers" (Rosseter 2014).

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The reasons for this include nursing fatigue and poor judgement that results due to being overwhelmed by the volume of care demanded. Shortages result in an increased need to work long hours, back-to-back shifts, and it is very difficult to be responsive to all of patient's needs under such circumstances. A 2004 National Survey on Consumers' Experiences with Patient Safety and Quality Information survey found that patient satisfaction was impacted by the nursing shortage as well. Patients "reported that the most important issues affecting medical error rates are workload, stress or fatigue among health professionals (74%); too little time spent with patients (70%); and too few nurses (69%)" (Rosseter 2014).

Unfortunately, many of these issues are systemic in nature and Nightingale Home Care Inc. cannot solve them single-handedly. However, there are some proactive strategies which can be taken to improve staffing issues, one of which is "forming strategic partnerships and seeking private support to help expand student capacity" (Rosseter 2014). In the future, Nightingale will work with local universities to offer educational opportunities for students and help programs expand their capacity to admit qualified students in the RN, OT, and PT programs which are necessary for Nightingale to provide its critical services. In.....

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