Patients’ health concerns are increasing despite the nursing shortage, which is a challenge in the nursing practice. It has been determined that more nurses will be needed within the practice (Tamata et al., 2021). The nursing shortage is one of the challenges that different events have contributed. It has been determined that the number of older people is increasing globally, contributing to increased concerns for patients who require critical care (Tamata et al., 2021). Statistics have also indicated that in the future, there will be an increasing number of individuals 65 years and above. These are among the main factors contributing to the worsening nursing shortage in healthcare (Haddad et al.2020). Another event contributing to the nursing shortage is the increasing number of nurses retiring due to old age. This is a fact that should be considered to be impacting nurses.
There are also events that have contributed to the nursing shortage, such as adverse environmental impacting factors. This includes fatigue within the workplace, contributing to increased turnover. The rate of health professionals that enrol as nurses have also been low because of the increased number of patients and an example of unemployment whereby there is exhaustion. Internal challenges such as burnout and low job satisfaction also attributed to increased turnover of nurses from the health practice. The nurses, therefore, end up taking longer time to provide care within the practice. In some cases reported within the health practice, violence has also contributed to the nursing shortage (Haddad et al., 2020).
The nursing profession is working towards addressing the nursing shortage challenge differently. This is associated with the introduction of solutions to increase the number of nursing facilities providing education. Additionally, it is the ability to have better transitions within the academics of the health professionals. Training programs have also been initiated at different levels to establish more knowledge on addressing patients’ health issues.
Haddad, L. M., Annamaraju, P., & Toney-Butler, T. J. (2020). Nursing Shortage. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493175/
Tamata, A. T., Mohammadnezhad, M., & Tamani, L. (2021). Registered nurses’ perceptions on the factors affecting nursing shortage in the Republic of Vanuatu Hospitals: A qualitative study. PLoS ONE 16(5): e0251890. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0251890
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