Inadequate Nurse Staffing

Paper Summary:

The paper looks at several articles and studies that categorize the nursing shortage as either a currently undesirable ratio of patients to nurses, or they anticipate that such a negative ratio will soon be reached. The paper therefore concludes that there is a crisis impacting the US' current national healthcare system, with a clear shortfall of working or incoming nurses resulting in a diminished quality of care, lesser individual attention to patients and a higher rate of mortality in acute care scenarios.

From the Paper:

"The national nursing shortage has surpassed a crisis pitch and it appears not only inevitable that it will continue at its current pace, but that the gap between patient demands and available healthcare providers will only widen. America's supply of registered nurses, after a decade of quantity decline, must be recuperated to address evolving public health needs. But the field's workforce growth has been dramatically outpaced by the swelling population of the nation's elderly. With the baby boomer generation now entering senior citizenship, the population of retirees in need of medical attention is projected to overwhelm the capacity of our healthcare system. Unfortunately, this has caused an unfavorable ratio of nurses to patients in hospitals and long-term care facilities, diminishing the time and, therefore, the quality of the individual care given each patient. The primary research question, therefore, will concern exactly what the impact of the nursing shortage is on the quality of healthcare standards."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Clark, Darlene & Paul Clark. (2003). Challenges Facing Nurses' Associations and Unions: A Global Perspective. Labour Review., Vol. 142.
• Dimaria, Rose Ann & Lynne Ostrow. (2004). West Virginia University School of Nursing Makes the Move to Web-Based Learning. Technological Horizons in Education Journal, Vol. 31, 2004.
• Gohmann, Stephen & Julia Lane. (1995). Shortage or Surplus: Economic an Noneconomic Approaches to the Analysis of Nursing Labor Markets. Southern Economic Journal, Vol. 61.
• Goodwin, Kristine. (Oct. 2002). States Tackle the Nursing Shortage: The Lack of Qualified Nurses Is Reaching Epidemic Proportions. States, Universities and Hospitals All Are Trying to Do Something about It. State Legislatures, Vol. 28.
• Veneri, Carolyn. (1999). Can Occupational Labor Shortages Be Identified Using Available Data?. Monthly Labor Review., Vol. 122.

More papers on Inadequate Nurse Staffing:

• Analytical Essay # 142317 : "Inadequate Nurse Staffing Mix"
• Narrative Essay # 97259 : "Under-staffing in Nursing Homes"
• Essay # 55105 : "Nursing Shortage"

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