Nursing Shortages in Healthcare

Paper Summary:

The paper argues that the increasing workload on nurses seen in the past decade in the US has lead to a significant decrease in patient care overall. The paper discusses the increased rate of hospital acquired infections and 30-day mortality rates and the cost inefficiencies that arise from these infections, from nurses taking an increased number of sick days, most often because they are burnt out or emotionally exhausted and from families of the patients who sue the hospital for inadequate nursing. The paper offers recommendations for a hospital short-staffed in terms of nurses and predicts that the nursing shortage across the country will only worsen in the next decade.

From the Paper:

"The United States health care system is currently under great duress. Physicians are working overtime and not being compensated; insurance companies are paying more now than ever due to the increasing rates of diabetes and other diseases in the country, and patients themselves are visiting their family physician or local ER more often than ever before. As a result, the bulk of the workload is being placed on a core group of individuals whose efforts are often overlooked: nurses. Nursing staff at any hospital spend more time in contact with a patient than all other hospital staff members combined. As such, they provide the bulk of patient care on a daily basis."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Jacoby, Susan. (2003, May). The nursing squeeze. AARP Bulletin. Retrieved April 17, 2007, from http://www.aarp.org/bulletin/yourhealth/a2003-07-14-nursingsqueeze.htmlRosseter,
• Robert. (2007, March 8). Nursing shortage. American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Retrieved April 17, 2007, from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Media/FactSheets/NursingShortage.htm
• Rothberg, Michael B., Abraham, Ivo, Lindenauer, Peter K., Rose, David N. (2005, August). Improving nurse-to-patient staffing ratios as a cost-effective safety intervention. Medical Care, 45 (8), 785-791.
• Stanton, Mark W. (2004, March). Hospital nurse staffing and quality of care. Research In Action, Issue 14. Retrieved April 16, 2007, from http://www.ahrq.gov/research/nursestaffing/nursestaff.htm#CostImpacts
• Tildon, Sania. (2002, October 23). Groundbreaking study shows that nurse short-staffing increases patient mortality, nursing dissatisfaction and nursing burnout. The Center for Nursing Advocacy. Retrieved April 17, 2007, from http://www.nursingadvocacy.org/news/2002oct23_jama.html

More papers on Nursing Shortages in Healthcare:

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• Research Paper # 101392 : "Nursing Shortage in Ontario"

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