Abstract
This paper discusses workplace stress and its contribution to the nursing shortage in the United States. It describes the serious nature of this nursing shortage and the importance of finding effective means of addressing it. The paper then analyzes whether increasing nurses' salaries will affect positive change in nurses' job satisfaction and thus help reduce the nursing shortage.

Table of Contents:
Abstract
Purpose of the Research Effort
Rationale and Relevance of the Problem
Literature Review
Proposed Study Design
Instruments/Data Collection
Demonstration of Critical Thinking

From the Paper
"This proposed study design demonstrates critical thinking through applying analysis of retention rates to the status of the nursing population. It is hypothesized that if the wage increase is effective, it is sufficient to compensate for the stresses associated with nursing and there will be a permanent overall retention of the nursing work force. If it is not sufficient, it is hypothesized that the nurses will not remain at that one hospital. This provides a foundation for engaging hospital administrators in a debate over the severity of stress for nurses and whether financial incentives are sufficient to compensate for stress in the long term setting."

Tags:hospital, wages, retention

Abstract
The paper discusses the current shortage in trained, experienced nursing professionals within the United States and assers that if left unchecked, this shortage has the potential to manifest into a crisis and negatively impact the quality of care provided to patients. The paper looks at the data that indicates that helping professions such as nursing have high levels of job-related stress associated with job duties and interactions with patients and their families. The paper discusses how increasing nurses' salaries is often used as a strategy to affect positive change in nursing, but it is not recognized how effective this strategy is in practice.

From the Paper
"There is a current shortage in trained, experienced nursing professionals within the United States. If left unchecked, this shortage has the potential to manifest into a crisis and negatively impact the quality of care provided to patients. Data indicates that helping professions such as nursing have high levels of job-related stress associated with job duties and interactions with patients and their families. Increasing nurses' salaries is often used as a strategy to affect positive change in nursing, but it is not recognized how effective this strategy is in practice."

Tags:nursing, shortage, wages

Abstract
This paper explains that one of the reasons for the shortage of nurses (RNs) in the United States is the expanding demands of the aging population as well as the advancing age of the nurses themselves. Next, the author evaluates potential solutions of the nursing shortage situation. The paper stresses that an effective solution to this shortage would be for hospitals to hire Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) not as a replacement for RNs but for general health care services within the LPN's skill set, such as perform vital signs, baths and checking IV.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Uncovering the Problem
Solutions to Nursing Shortage
Possible Economic Solutions to Nursing Shortage
Pros and Cons of Solutions
Most Effective Solution
Conclusion

From the Paper
"Congress introduced the TNT program, also known as the Troops to nurse program. It was developed to address the nursing shortage, which could reach nearly 500,000 by 2025. It would offer financial incentive to nursing schools to collaborate with the military since both since both civilian and military recruitment for nurses are below goal. The legislation would pay the nursing schools to train the military nurse, which would relieve much of the financial burden on the student, and once the student is done with an agreed tour of duty they would be already trained to work in the private sector."

Tags:lpn, patient safety, working environment, costs educator

Abstract
This paper discusses how today, there is a heavy demand for practical nursing professionals due to a shortage of healthcare professionals and how shortages of personnel create a lower standard of medical attention for patients. In particular, the paper examines how this is a problematic circumstance that concerns clinical nursing, and especially the new generation of nurses entering into or emerging from educational contexts. It argues that the educational curricula must be designed to stress the clinical implications of this reality as well as to help provide prospective nurses with what resources and tools are available to accommodate this condition.

Outline:
Literature Review
Application with Professionals/Professional Learners
Relevance to Broader Clinical Concerns
Significance
Conclusion

From the Paper
"The nursing shortage is a serious problem for America's healthcare industry and it plays a part in an overall lowering of healthcare quality for the average American, and can even be shown to significantly raise the dangers of mortality through clinical failure or a lack of access to proper clinical treatment plans and durations in American hospitals. The actual result of this pressing public health and economic issue of healthcare professional shortages is that a new onus falls upon the nursing educational institution to find ways to stimulate the proper awareness of this problem for nurses entering the field or coping with these shortages already. The literature review here provides foundation for the content of an educational program addressing these needs."

Tags:hospitals, public, health

Abstract
This paper discusses the severe nursing shortage seen in many developed countries. The paper reveals that the shortage has contributed to the decline in the quality of care delivered by health systems, which puts patients at greater risk for developing pneumonia, urinary tract infections, shock, upper gastrointestinal bleeding, sepsis or deep venous thrombosis. The paper also looks at several solutions that have been implemented, such as recruiting nurses from developing countries. The paper asserts that current solutions cannot solve the issue unless the root of the nursing shortage is addressed. The paper concludes with personal feelings on the issue.

From the Paper
"It is undeniable that the shortage of nurses is an increasingly alarming problem that is felt all over the world. In the United States, an estimated 126,000 nursing positions remain to be filled in US hospitals (Chaguturu & Vallabhaneni, 2005). The US government has gone as far as predicting that nursing vacancies in hospitals may even reach as much as 29% by 2020 (Stanton, 2004). Our European counterparts have not been spared by this trend. The Royal College of Nursing in UK suggests that the number of vacancies for both registered nurses and midwives is as close to 22,000 (Finlayson, Dixon, Meadows & Blair, 2002). Other developed countries such as Australia and Canada are also suffering from this crisis (Zajac, 2003)."

Tags:wages, stress, healthcare

Abstract
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."

Tags:infections, morbidity, mortality, burnout, stress

Abstract
This paper discusses the problems created by the shortage of qualified nurses that is requiring unit managers to contribute additional effort to fulfill all of the required responsibilities of the nursing unit. The paper presents a shared leadership model in which the stress of the nurse's job is balanced as various nursing and administrative tasks are shared among several nurses. The author admits that the skills needed to develop this model are extensive and require training, but the development of this new organizational structure is likely to result in significant reductions in employee stress.

From the Paper
"The hospital unit must become a catalyst for cultural and organizational change in order for a shared leadership initiative to result in success. Although this task may be difficult, it is essential to provide nurses with the feeling that they are not taken advantage of in the workplace. If nurses are provided with new responsibilities, they are likely to exhibit gratification and a sense of exhilaration in their careers. Nurse Managers, who are often times overwhelmed themselves with endless responsibility, are likely to welcome the changes that would be demonstrated through a shared leadership structure."

Tags:unit, managers, responsibilities, balanced, administrative, tasks, skills, training, organizational, structure

Abstract
The paper discusses how the transition from graduate to professional nurse is difficult and stressful. The paper analyzes how new graduate nurses are at a high risk for leaving the profession. The paper examines how the hospital or organization that employs nurses must support learning programs with funding, expertise, and encouragement. The writer proposes that orientation programs need to be longer and specially geared to the problems of new nurses. The writer further argues that when hospitals show that they value nurses, by doing everything within their power to help novices grow into expert nurses, increased retention will be the result.

From the Paper
"The transition from nursing school to professional nursing is extremely stressful. The demands and challenges of the workplace can be overwhelming. New graduates may start out excited and joyful but soon are hit with the reality of the workplace. Expectations for caregiving have changed significantly too. Length of stays, for example, have decreased dramatically so that only very sick people are in the hospital (Ellerton, 2003). Many new nurses feel under-prepared and experience great anxiety about making mistakes and possibly harming their patients. Many feel that they lack knowledge to communicate effectively with doctors and with family members and feel inadequate for the job. The reality of the workplace is a shock. In school they were imbued with high ideals, but the workplace requires them to carry a larger caseload of patients with serious medical problems."

Tags:interpersonal, conflicts, intentional, information-withholding, verbally, abused, sexual, harassment

Abstract
The writers shows that mandatory overtime can be a source of stress for the nurses in all aspects of their lives. It examines how this escalating crisis is affecting nurses' physical health and how their overworked, overtired and burned out bodies are really having an impact on the way they care for patients.

From the Paper
"This problem is best explained starting with how it affects the nurse physically. These problems mainly consist of prolonged exposure to hazards, fatigue and stress. "Longer shifts mean that nurses spend more time being exposed to the risks of chemical exposure, infectious agents, and injury (Worthington, 2001). Biohazards and chronic injuries also exist, "They complain of back injuries and risky accidents with contaminated needles" (2001). Nurses are in the business of making decisions that can affect whether a patient lives or dies. Nurses are also expected to care for themselves during these times. This includes transportation to and from work. " There are few statistics on the number of car accidents related to fatigue from having to work extended hours because fatalities that occur while driving home after double shifts are not counted as workplace fatalities" (2001). Stress can also have a profound effect on the body making nurses prone to having poor physical condition."

Tags:burnout, mandatory, nursing, overtime, shortage, stress

Abstract
Initially, stress is defined and its impacts on the nursing industry identified. Particular emphasis is placed on the role of stress or burnout in merging nursing shortages.