Shortage in Nursing Professionals in the Developed World - Coursework Example

Nursing Shortage Introduction: The last decade has witnessed a shortage in nursing professionals in the developed world that has far surpassed previous experiences of nursing professional shortages putting a strain in the efficient delivery of health care. Any earlier shortage that was experienced earlier with regard to nursing professionals was restricted to specialized areas, like the intensive care units and operating rooms. The current shortage is much more extensive and pervasive, covering all areas of nursing care including the general medical and surgical units. Evaluation of the trend of nursing shortage in the United States of America, forecasts suggests that the situation is only going to worsen unless steps to arrest the decline in the attractiveness of the nursing profession and reduced the stress on nursing professionals are taken on an urgent basis (Buerhas, Donelan, Ulrich, Norman & Dittus, 2005). Background: The nursing shortage in the United States of America is a matter of serious concern, for according to Shirey, 2006, the United States of America is in the midst of one of the most crippling nursing shortages in its history, with the projections of this shortfall in nursing to rise to twenty percent of the demand for nursing professionals by 2020, which in sheer numbers means that there will be a shortfall of as many as 800,000 registered nurses, which is a staggering figure. Iowa faces a similar picture with regard to the nursing shortage, which is reflected in the statistics available at the turn of the new millennium shown in the table below Table – 1 Vacancies Employer RN Vacancies Vacancy Rate Ambulatory Care 303 12% Home Health/Public Health 164 10% Hospitals 1,460 9% Long-Term Care 589 21%       Total/Average 2,516 13% Based on Statistics from November 20, 2000 ICON Workforce Initiative Survey to 1,325 employers (Nursing Shortage Fact Sheet). These figures on the shortage of nurses experienced in every area of nursing care requirement is bound to rise given that nearly sixty percent of the current nursing professionals may retire by 2009. The possibility of the shortfall in nursing professionals being made good through new registered nurses (RN) coming through the education programs for nursing in Iowa is dismal given that the admissions to the nursing programs in Iowa have been dropping rapidly for more than a decade. This is the grim reality of the nursing shortage in Iowa (Nursing Shortage Fact Sheet). The shortage of nurses in Iowa has implications on health care in Iowa. For the healthcare sector it means that the quality of health care provided to healthcare seekers in Iowa is likely to be deficient, affecting the standards of health care in Iowa. To the medical professionals the shortage of nursing implies that some of the functions in providing treatment and management of diseases normally handed over to nursing professionals will shift to them increasing their workload. To the citizens of Iowa the shortage of nurses means that there will be nursing care will not measure up to their expectations, as the nursing professionals will not have the enough time and energy to be more receptive to their care needs. Finally, the healthcare authorities of the state will be pressed to find ways and means out of this situation, which is a detriment to public health. Policy Alternatives: In the developed world the method of reducing the impact of the shortage of nurses being experienced has been to open the doors to nursing professionals from the developing world of Asia, like India and China, who demonstrate a willingness to migrate for economic reasons and for enhancing career prospects. This trend is seen in the United States of America too (Bieski, 2007). The first policy option available to the authorities is to follow the lead of the developed world in addressing the shortage of nurses. The advantage from this policy is that it is a tried and tested and a ready made solution for the problem of shortage of nurses. Bieski, 2007, points out that many of the foreign trained nursing come proficient in English and with adequate nursing knowledge, which has resulted in their numbers rising in the United States of America to nearly a hundred thousand at the turn of the new millennium to make up nearly four percent of the RN workforce in the United States of America. There are several disadvantages to adopting this policy as the means to overcome the nursing shortage in Iowa. The Federal government immigration policies may not allow the inflow of adequate number of foreign trained nursing professionals into the country every year to make up for the deficit in the availability of domestic nursing professionals. Even if it should happen, this is a short sighted policy for it is dependent on the economic conditions of the developing host nations and may not be sustainable in the long run. There are issues of cultural integration with the existing domestic workforce, particularly as they view the foreign trained nursing professionals, as threats to their work security. Finally, it does nothing to encourage attracting young people to the nursing profession and for the existing nursing professionals already under stress to prevent their early burn out (Bieski, 2007). The second policy option is to make the nursing career a more attractive one, to encourage young people to take up this career and at the same time take the necessary measures to reduce the stress on the existing nursing professionals to prevent them from retiring prematurely or moving out of the state. The advantage of this policy option is that it is entirely dependent on the stake holders of the health care sector in the State of Iowa and therefore within the control of the State authorities. It also allows for increasing career options for the young people of the State and also caters to the cries from the nursing professionals for attention to the situation they are in. It raises the possibility of incorporating new technology into the functioning of the healthcare industry. The disadvantage lies in the financial investment that will be needed and the willingness of the State authorities and the private organizations involved in healthcare to invest in the health of their people. (Nursing Shortage Fact Sheet). Comparison of Policy Alternatives: The criteria for assessment is essentially increasing the availability of nursing professionals currently in the state, reducing the stress on the presently available nursing workforce and meeting the future demands for nursing professionals in the state. The policy of using foreign trained nurses has a distinct advantage in that it offers the means to immediately meet the immediate shortage of nurses. It does have implications on reducing stress in the current workforce, but given the warning by Bieski, 2007, of the likely antagonism that the current nursing has towards foreign trained nurses, the benefits that accrue are likely to be diminished. It must be also remembered that foreign trained nurse come on economic grounds and for enhanced career prospects and are likely to leave for greener pastures once their current contract comes to an end. The continued use of foreign trained nurses is not a viable long term solution for meeting anticipated future demands for nursing professionals. The second policy option of making the nursing career more attractive and improving the lot of the nursing workforce is more suitable from the perspective of the selected criteria. Making the nursing career more attractive will stem the flow of nurses from the State of Iowa to other states and attract nursing professionals from other states to the State of Iowa. This should help reduce the shortage of nurses being experienced currently. Making the nursing profession attractive will not be easy, as it calls for removing the factors that caused the shortage in the first place. Increase in salaries and benefits for the nursing workforce, better career prospects, reducing undesirable work hour loads, better working environment, and empowerment are the immediate means to address the issues that have made nursing a less attractive career option (Buerhas, Donelan, Ulrich, Norman & Dittus, 2005). It also calls for a change in mindset. The nursing profession has been considered a female gender oriented profession and faced the pressures of gender discrimination. Over time while female gender discrimination has been negated, the nursing profession continues to carry its legacy, thus many a time issues that concern the nursing professionals gets linked to issues concerning the female gender (Andrist, 2005). However, these are hurdles that need to and can be overcome. Along with these changes there is also the need to invest in nursing education. Given that the educational facilities available in Iowa are not being used to full; capacity, the first initiative is to make nursing education affordable and reachable for all who would like to take up a nursing career. This means that education financing must be more liberal and less demanding for nursing students. Such moves would enable to meet the future demands for nursing professionals The nursing shortage is not going to disappear all of a sudden. Hence reducing the stress in nursing professionals becomes important to make the profession attractive and prevent the bleeding of nursing professionals. Use of technology can reduce the work stress of nursing professionals. Many of the regular activities of a nursing professional take up a time, which can be reduced through the use of technology. It is available and still not used sufficiently. It is a cost-effective, safety-focused way to address work stress that has contributed to nursing shortage (Bower & McCullough, 2004). Policy Implementation Plan: The policy will start with increased salary and benefits to all nursing professionals based on their nature and scope of responsibilities and a continuing pattern of increase in salaries and benefits. Nursing professionals will be encouraged to increase their knowledge and skills with a well defined career path of incremental steps based on acquiring knowledge, skills and experience. Investment will be made in areas of technology in public hospitals that reduce the work load on the nurses. Nursing education finance schemes will be made readily available with at a low rate of interest. Nursing scholarships will be enhanced. The success of the policy will be monitored in several ways. Changes in number of RNs in the state on a yearly basis. Outflow of RNs from the state on a yearly basis. Inflow of RNs to the state on a yearly basis. Off take of nursing scholarships on a yearly basis. Number of students enrolling afresh for nursing educational programs at the start of each educational program. Vacant seats in nursing educational programs on a yearly basis. Conclusion: The nursing problem in Iowa is reaching crisis proportions. It has not yet reached the point of no return, but demands urgent and strong policies that encourage the nursing profession and nursing as a profession to turn the tide to ensure the health of the citizens of Iowa. Literary References Andrist, C. L. (2005). WEAVING CRITICAL THREADS THROUGH NURSING IDEAS. In Linda C. Andrist, Patrice K. Nicholas & Karen Wolf (Eds.), A History of NURSING IDEAS (pp.1-4). Boston: Jones & Bartlett. Bieski, Tanya. (2007). Foreign-Educated Nurses: An Overview of Migration and Credentialing Issues. Nursing Economics, 25 (1), 20-23 & 34. Bower, L. F. & McCullough, C. (2004). Nurse Shortage or Nursing Shortage: Have We Missed the Real Problem? Nursing Economics, 22 (4), 200-203. Buerhas, P.I., Donelan, K., Ulrich, T. B., Norman, L. & Dittus, R. (2005). Is the Shortage of Hospital Registered Nurses Getting Better or Worse? Findings from Two Recent National Surveys of RNs. Nursing Economics, 23 (2), 61-71. Nursing Shortage Fact Sheet. Retrieved May 7, 2008, from, Iowa Nurse Association Web Site: http://www.iowanurses.org/nsfacts.htm Shirey, R.M. (2006). Stress and Coping in Nurse Managers: Two Decades of Research. Nursing Economics, 24 (4), 193-203. Status of Nursing Supply and Demand in Iowa. 2004. Center for Health Care Workforce Planning Iowa Department of Public Health. Retrieved May 7, 2008, from Web Site: http://www.idph.state.ia.us/hpcdp/common/workforce/government oversightcommittee Read More