In 150 words, substantively respond to Grecia’s post below by offering different examples of how the nursing shortage has been addressed in your state, community, or specialty area. Use at least one separate resource to add to the post. Remember, your source should be less than 5 years. Don’t forget to reference source using APA format.
Grecia’s Post:
As of 2020, the nursing healthcare workforce constitutes over 3.9 million workers, and this number is expected to increase in the near future (Haddad et al., 2020). This means that the nurses account for the highest number of the healthcare workforce. Despite this, there still exists a shortage in the healthcare workforce due to the increasing need for healthcare for populations. This shortage can be attributed to the demographic factors of the American population. One of these demographic factors is the increasing aging population, which is rising daily (Haddad et al., 2020). Elderly persons experience a multiple of chronic conditions, which leads to their growing need for healthcare. Due to these chronic conditions, the elderly are unable to perform their activities of daily living, and also suffer from polypharmacy. This means they should have a caregiver throughout the day, since they are dependent on others. As the number of the elderly persons increases, healthcare demands increase too. Additionally, nurses suffer bullying in their workplaces, which leads them to quit their jobs. Bullying can lead to demotivation of workers, and can even cause psychological challenges. As a result, nurses who have experienced bullying quit and this creates a shortage in the nursing workforce.
Solution
One of the most effective strategies of eliminating the nursing shortage is through the recruitment of more nurses. This is the role of recruitment agencies in ensuring only qualified and energetic nurses are employed (Mehdaova, 2017). Countering bullying can be challenging but measures like reporting forums can be implemented. This will ensure that nurses who suffer bullying have a forum to report their experiences, and once a case of bullying is reported, it should be looked into.
How the Nursing Shortage has been Addressed
Since 2013, the healthcare industry has been working tirelessly to eliminate the shortage that exists. One of the measures implemented is through partnerships with nursing schools, hence recruiting more nursing students (AACN, 2019). Through the partnerships, nurses get employed immediately after completion of training. A good example of such a partnership is the Minnesota VA HCS partnership with Minnesota University. This partnership has given nursing students an assurance of job opportunities after completion of training. The Wisconsin university has also undertaken to grant their students loans and subsidies to help in covering tuition fees (AACN, 2019).
References
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (1st April, 2019). Nursing Shortage. Efforts to Address the Nursing Shortage. Retrieved From
Haddad, L. M., Annamaraju, P., & Toney-Butler, T. J. (2020). Nursing shortage. In Stat Pearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing. Retrieved From
Mehdaova, E. A. (2017). Strategies to overcome the nursing shortage. Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies Collections. Retrieved From
