Why The Nurse Shortage In The United States
In the United States there are over 3 million nurses employed in the healthcare field. The lack of nurse educators and qualified registered nurses in the United States has intricately woven the ultimate downfall of the health system that has led to a nursing shortage.Nursing is one of the fastest growing careers in America because of the high demand for healthcare, patients are getting sicker, elderly are getting older. Over 1 million Registered Nurses are over the age of 50 and they will be retiring in the next 10-15 years, causing a big drop in the number of experienced RN’s. . Between 2014 and 2022 over 1.2 million nursing jobs will be open, the demand for new RN’s is rising. As the population gets larger, and the elderly live longer, they
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There are studies shown that understaffing affects the patient-care, lower infection rates, lower hospital stays, and fewer in house deaths. In Pennsylvania, the nurse to patient ratios ranges anywhere from 4:1 to 8:1. In a study conducted by Annual’s Internal Medicine, have shown that out of 232,342 surgical discharges, 4,535 patients (2 percent) died within 30 days of hospitalization. Investigators estimate that due to high patient to nurse ratios, nearly 1,000 of those deaths could have been prevented by lowering the patient to nurse ratio. Providing a lower patient to nurse ratio could possibly provide a better quality of care and lower the mortality rate. There are many ethical principles that play a part in the nursing shortage and patient care such as nonmaleficence, beneficence, and justice. Nonmaleficence asks us not to intentionally or unintentionally inflict harm on others, by not providing the patient the best possible care and not spending the appropriate time with the patients the nurse could miss a vital part of the patients health that is needed. Beneficence is we should do good to others, this means that we should do good to others in providing the best possible care. Justice is people getting what is fair or what is their due, meaning every patient deserves the best level of care possible. If the patient to nurse ratio is 8:1 then the patients are getting the best of care because the nurse is trying to take care of all of their patients and get things done on time. I believe the nursing shortage affects patient care dramatically and it needs to be addressed and the problem needs to be
There are studies shown that understaffing affects the patient-care, lower infection rates, lower hospital stays, and fewer in house deaths. In Pennsylvania, the nurse to patient ratios ranges anywhere from 4:1 to 8:1. In a study conducted by Annual’s Internal Medicine, have shown that out of 232,342 surgical discharges, 4,535 patients (2 percent) died within 30 days of hospitalization. Investigators estimate that due to high patient to nurse ratios, nearly 1,000 of those deaths could have been prevented by lowering the patient to nurse ratio. Providing a lower patient to nurse ratio could possibly provide a better quality of care and lower the mortality rate. There are many ethical principles that play a part in the nursing shortage and patient care such as nonmaleficence, beneficence, and justice. Nonmaleficence asks us not to intentionally or unintentionally inflict harm on others, by not providing the patient the best possible care and not spending the appropriate time with the patients the nurse could miss a vital part of the patients health that is needed. Beneficence is we should do good to others, this means that we should do good to others in providing the best possible care. Justice is people getting what is fair or what is their due, meaning every patient deserves the best level of care possible. If the patient to nurse ratio is 8:1 then the patients are getting the best of care because the nurse is trying to take care of all of their patients and get things done on time. I believe the nursing shortage affects patient care dramatically and it needs to be addressed and the problem needs to be