Nursing Shortage

7 Pages 1686 Words

The Nursing Shortage
In order for clients to receive quality care, there must be sufficient amounts available to provide care for them. Nurses play an important role in delivering and coordinating client care in both acute and non-acute settings. Not every hospital facility is experiencing a nursing shortage, however the numbers are growing across the country. The shortages of nurses are causing staffing problems in many of our facilities. It is constantly being exploited in the media, and there are many known contributing factors; however, the problem remains to be solved. What are the causes and effects of the nursing shortage? What can be done to solve this problem?
Nursing shortages have occurred in the health care profession since the 1940's. Since then, the nursing shortage have been cyclical and economy based. According to Publications (2001, para. 1) “When the economy is thriving, a nursing shortage is likely to follow.” It is thought that the nursing shortage of the 1980's never really ended, but it was hidden by an increase in managed care, health care corporations unifying, and the dynamics of health care organizations.
The nursing shortage today is much more severe than that of the past because in this is a sort of two-way shortage. The nursing supply is low and the demands are equally low. Experts reveal that this problem may not improve, even if there were to be a drop in both the economy and employment levels (Publications, 2001, para. 4)
Managed care has had its influences on the nursing shortage. Since the early 90's, insurance companies and government agencies began to clamp down health care industries. They wanted the health care industries to lower the costs and reduce the prices of their services and treatments. Because of this, hospitals began to reduce the usage of their nurses. For states with high HMO enrollment, there was a notice in a reduction of RN employment. Most...