The Nursing Shortage

As it has been noted, the health of our health care system depends on nurses, but the nursing shortage is critical today. Many researches have been conducted to discover the roots of this problem and now when its sources are known, should be easier to find solutions to this phenomena. Because of poor wages, the need for nursing faculty, and burnout, the nursing shortage is not going away anytime soon. If these problems are not solved, the nursing shortage has a real potential of reducing the quality of health care in America. The future of nursing depends on the ability to recruit and retain the next generation to the profession. Nurse leaders must place additional efforts to improve the hospital workplace environment to decrease job stress,
improve nurse's ability to provide quality care, and assure the health and safety of nurses. Reducing job stress and providing adequate staffing will enhance job satisfaction which will also encourage nurses to stay at the bedside. Improved work environment may delay older RN's retirement from the workforce. Another key to overcoming the shortage is to train more students in nursing by creating more nursing faculty. These programs are still in the early stages. With so much effort toward overcoming the nursing shortage, one can only hope that it all will work for the sake of nurses and patients within the hospitals and clinics, and once again be a safe and comforting place to be a patient, employee, or both.