Modern nursing is changing with new roles and working practices. Professional nursing is an art and applied science. Nursing is a self-motivated profession or as an art of science with a growing body of knowledge that is supported by research within the profession. It focuses on supporting human beings of their wellness/illness continuum. Today, the nursing profession is serious problem of shortage of staff that it becomes difficult for giving the patients the best risk free environment. The worldwide nursing shortage is a matter of concern to every one.
We will write a custom essay on your topic
812writers online
If we look at the healthcare industry, it is growing fast when compared to other industries. However, with the increase in population, an increased number of healthcare professionals are needed to care for them particularly in the case of epidemics and disasters. This is also a serious problem in United States healthcare sector. The goal of this paper is to review the literature and trace out the causes that are causative to the nursing shortage in the US. Additionally it also discusses the impact of nursing shortage on the industry and its future. The paper also presents possible solutions to nursing shortage.
Though healthcare industry is a growing industry, more and more nursing staff is required to support this industry. In thousands of hospitals in the United States and around the world there is a severe shortage of nursing staff. As a result the existing staff is under the pressure of working overtime. This affects their personal life particularly if they have a family whom they support. In fact if these nurses face an emotional challenge due to working overtime, they do not perform to their full potential and there are also instances when many of them opt to quit this industry. Therefore, the shortage of nursing staff itself triggers the further reduction in their numbers.
Today, many of the healthcare set ups are concern about the patient safety. For instance, a study conducted by Aiken and his associates showed that trends in hospital use and staffing patterns have brought together so much of problems especially related to hazardous conditions for patient safety. The study exposed the fact that high patient perception levels, collectively with raise in admission and discharge cycles and less number of nurses pose serious challenges for the delivery of safe and effective nursing care (Aiken, et al., 1996). The increased number of patients also increases the pressure on existing nursing staff. It is estimated that nurses in general will have to work on an average twelve to even sixteen hours that may not follow the traditional pattern of day, evening, and night shifts. Above all the nurses who are serving for specialized units such as surgery, dialysis, and intensive care are often required to be available to work extra hours other than their regular shifts. These shifts may be randomly scheduled. In emergency units twenty four hour shifts are becoming more common (Rogers, et al., 2004). The results of this study also found that working extra hours creates stress in the nursing staff and may end in medication errors.
Adequate sleep is a basic need of human beings. In today’s busy schedule of nurses they face serious problems of sleep depriving. Nurses frequently shortchange themselves on sleep, getting by on an average of 6.8 hours of sleep on their work days instead of the commonly recommended 8 hours per 24-hour period. This may result in reduced vigilance, reaction time, memory, psychomotor coordination, and decision making (Stutts, et al., 1999). Besides, studies show that speed of mental processing also slows during the night under conditions of sleep deprivation (Monk, et. al., 1997).
In another study it was found that nurses who worked rotating shifts were more sleep deprived and more likely to fall asleep while they are at work as a result they were nearly twice as likely to make a medication error when compared with other nurses who predominantly worked day shifts (Gold, 1992). In fact, some research also point at the reality that nurses ignore the role of fatigue that might play in critical incidents. Nurses working in intensive care and operating room were questioned about error, stress, and teamwork, approximately 60% of them agreed to the fact that they work even when they feel fatigued and they think that in critical times they perform effectively (Sexton, et al., 2000).
Landrigan, et al, (2004) conducted a study and found that interns made considerably more serious medical errors when they worked over and over again on shifts of 24 hours or more than when they worked in shorter gene
Order this paper