The Nursing Shortage

Term Paper # 102832

Medical and Health > Nursing

A discussion of the nursing shortage in the United States.

1,930 words () | 11 sources | APA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper identifies the factors affecting the supply of nursing personnel in US health care organizations today. The paper discusses how the consequences of this shortage are most evident in the quality of health services delivered to patients and in the future of nursing as a profession. The paper asserts that efforts must be made to make not only nursing graduates stay within their chosen profession, but also to encourage and support promising individuals who want to pursue an academic career as nursing faculty.

From the Paper:

"The nursing shortage in the United States and elsewhere is not a new phenomenon. This shortage can be traced to several factors, including those pertaining to personal and financial equity, the presence of more lucrative career options, high attrition rates of new graduates and personal satisfaction. Obstacles such as insufficient enrolment and nurse population growth rates, faculty shortages, an aging nurse population, apart from job dissatisfaction and subsequent career changes are still prevalent and unaddressed (American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2004). With the coming realization that the health care infrastructure of the Unites States is less than satisfactory and more and more in danger of collapse as the "baby boomer" generation retires, health care professionals, particularly nurses, face an even bigger dilemma."

Sample of Sources Used:

Aiken LH, Clarke SP, Sloane DM, Sochalski J & Silber JH. (2002). Hospital nurse staffing and patient mortality, nurse burnout, and job dissatisfaction. JAMA, 288(16), 1987-93. Retrieved March 26, 2007 from http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/288/16/1987#TABLEJOC20547T4
American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). (2004). Nursing Shortage Fact Sheet. Retrieved March 26, 2007 from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media/backgrounders/shortagefacts.htm
Barron D & West E. Leaving nursing: an event-history analysis of nurses' careers. (2005). J Health Serv Res Policy, 10(3), 150-7. Retrieved March 26, 2007 from the Pubmed Database.
Crouch R & Williams S. (2006). Patient dependency in the emergency department (ED): reliability and validity of the Jones Dependency Tool (JDT). Accid Emerg Nurs., 14(4), 219-29. Retrieved March 26, 2007 from the Pubmed Database.
Hasselhorn HM, Tackenberg P, Kuemmerling A, Wittenberg J, Simon M, Conway PM et al. (2006). Nurses' health, age and the wish to leave the profession--findings from the European NEXT-Study. Med Lav., 97(2), 207-14. Retrieved March 26, 2007 from the Pubmed Database.