Nur/531-Impact of Policy in Healthcare and Nursing/Scarce Resource Article
NUR/531-Impact of Policy in Healthcare and Nursing/Scarce Resource Article
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has just released a new study highlighting the steps 12 states are taking to prevent a looming crisis in nursing. Experts predict the United States could be short more than 260,000 nurses by 2025 and the study authors say state-level partnerships must take the lead in addressing the problem. The scarce supply and shortage of nursing staff has become a matter of sincere concern for healthcare organizations across the nation. The demand for healthcare services is increasing and requires healthcare organizations to employ qualified and well trained nursing staff. The main issues of this growing problem is that the shortage of nursing staff raises major concerns as nurses are the backbone for the functioning of any healthcare organization. Thus, significant challenges and consequences will ultimately affect the patients if this issue is not addressed. Consequently, multiple strategies must be put into place to offset the projected shortage of over 260,000 registered nurses (RNs) in 2025 (Buerhaus, Auerbach, & Staiger, 2007). U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2011 reported that the healthcare sector of the economy is continuing to grow, despite significant job losses in recent months in nearly all major industries. Hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other ambulatory care settings added 37,000 new jobs in March 2011, the biggest monthly increase recorded by any employment sector. As the largest segment of the healthcare workforce, enrollment in schools of nursing is not growing fast enough to meet the projected demands for nurses over the next ten year. The faculty shortage is another factor influencing the nursing shortage. According to Allen (2008) faculty increased age close to retirement, declining number of years left to teach and insufficient master’s and doctoral prepared
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has just released a new study highlighting the steps 12 states are taking to prevent a looming crisis in nursing. Experts predict the United States could be short more than 260,000 nurses by 2025 and the study authors say state-level partnerships must take the lead in addressing the problem. The scarce supply and shortage of nursing staff has become a matter of sincere concern for healthcare organizations across the nation. The demand for healthcare services is increasing and requires healthcare organizations to employ qualified and well trained nursing staff. The main issues of this growing problem is that the shortage of nursing staff raises major concerns as nurses are the backbone for the functioning of any healthcare organization. Thus, significant challenges and consequences will ultimately affect the patients if this issue is not addressed. Consequently, multiple strategies must be put into place to offset the projected shortage of over 260,000 registered nurses (RNs) in 2025 (Buerhaus, Auerbach, & Staiger, 2007). U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2011 reported that the healthcare sector of the economy is continuing to grow, despite significant job losses in recent months in nearly all major industries. Hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other ambulatory care settings added 37,000 new jobs in March 2011, the biggest monthly increase recorded by any employment sector. As the largest segment of the healthcare workforce, enrollment in schools of nursing is not growing fast enough to meet the projected demands for nurses over the next ten year. The faculty shortage is another factor influencing the nursing shortage. According to Allen (2008) faculty increased age close to retirement, declining number of years left to teach and insufficient master’s and doctoral prepared