Nr6053 analysis of a pertinent healthcare issue

Analysis of the national health care issue

The shortage of nurses is always being a national health care issue but a globally issue as well. It impacts the quality of health care to the patients and it has also negative impacts on the satisfaction and motivation of patients and nurses. It has been estimated that it will reach about 12.9 million by 2035. Nowadays, there is a shortage of nurses of 7.2 million in the world world (Marć, Bartosiewicz, Burzyńska, Chmiel and Januszewicz, 2019). WHO (world health organization) states that if no solution is found for this problem, it will have severe implications on the health of lot of millions and even billions in the world. This nurse shortage has limited the attainment of development goals that are health related. Also, if this problem won’t get resolved, it will undermine the achievement of sustainable development goals (Marc et al 2019).

In my organization, nurse shortage is notably experienced. Nurses are working for long hours and there are few nurses for each shift. These working problems has lead the nurses to stressors / burnouts. The nurses are getting mentally exhausted and they cant perform effectively on their duties. Also they lack leadership support which is important to handle some specific tasks for example a death processing. Deaths because of nurse ignorance has been observed frequently. Thus, shortage of nurses has led to performing unethically and exposing patients to increased risks. 

Shortage of nurses as approached by other organizations

Stakeholders in the sectors of health care are addressing the shortage of nurses differently. The foundation of Robert Wood Johnson is committed to improve the healthcare among Americans. Their primary goal is to lower the nurse shortage bedside and enhance the care quality (Susan, Hassmiller, and Maureen 2017). In order to deal with the lack of nurses, they recruit top qualified staff and make them to do their best work.

Furthermore, they are trying to keep the staff in the organization. The teams in the organization are trained a lot on technological advancements and on how they can response better on their daily tasks. Since the staffs are supported in their daily work/tasks, the staffs are more and satisfied. The foundation of Robert Wood Johnson has launch leadership and mentor-ship programs for nurses in public health, executive roles, and in nursing education. Besides, the organization has commenced rapid response teams, who intervene when the conditions of the patients are deteriorating (Susan et al., 2017).

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing is working with stakeholders such as policymakers, schools, media, and nursing organizations to address this concern. They are providing resources, establishing collaborations, and identify strategies to address nurse shortage. They are providing financial support to students, to advance their education. Moreover, they are working in partnership with nursing schools and private stakeholders to expand the capacity of the student (American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2019) .This increases the number of nurses to fill in the gaps in the clinical facilities. Also, some multimedia initiatives have been undertaken to promote careers in nursing, and even change the perception of nursing. These approaches will avail nurses at the disposal of the nursing organization. They will be able to maximize the availability of highly qualified staff to address nurse shortage in the facilities.

Strategies to Address the Nursing Shortage

Addressing the nursing shortage needs collaborative efforts of stakeholders. Improving the working conditions in the nursing organization will significantly impact nurses’ retention and satisfaction (Susan et al., 2017). Training and mentorship programs will avail high qualified employees to fill the gaps in nursing. Supporting nursing students to access education is a priority in bridging the nurse shortage. Moreover, through mentor-ship programs, there will be shaping of negative perceptions of students, and embrace a nursing career. Furthermore, nurses require constant support in their routine practice.

Leadership should occasionally provide support to the staff. This motivates and offers satisfaction to the employee. A response team should always be available to the nurses in times of crisis (Susan et al., 2017). Moreover, to curb the nurse shortage, an organization should ensure that they source for highly qualified employees. However, they should always ensure that they provide the right working conditions to promote their retention.

Impact on the organization

These strategies will positively impact our organization. They seek to address burnouts and the reduction of medical errors in the organization. Quality health care will be provided to patients in the organization. With enough nurses, patients will be able to get individualized attention. The satisfaction of nurses impacts their service delivery. Through these initiatives, nurses will be able to acquire knowledge which will aid in service delivery. The organization will achieve employee retention. Proper working conditions will be available to the nurses, therefore be motivated to keep working in the organizations. However, attracting, training, and retaining qualified employees is capital intensive (Snavely, 2016). The organization will be required to invest in these incentives.

Conclusion

Nurse shortage has remained a significant challenge globally. This impacts the working conditions of nurses and results in burnouts and medical errors. Therefore, education, mentor-ship programs will help to improve healthcare. The management should also ensure that the nurses are motivated and satisfied. This will ensure that they provide quality health care services. Therefore; organizations should work in collaboration with other stakeholders to promote improved working conditions.

References

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2019). Nursing Shortage. Retrieved from https://www.aacnnursing.org/News-Information/Fact-Sheets/Nursing-Shortage

Marć, M., Bartosiewicz, A., Burzyńska, J., Chmiel, Z., & Januszewicz, P. (2019). A nursing shortage-a prospect of global and local policies. International nursing review, 66(1), 9-16.

Snavely, T. M. (2016). A brief economic analysis of the looming nursing shortage in the United States. Nursing Economics, 34(2), 98-101.

Susan B, Hassmiller and Maureen Cozine. (2017). Addressing the Nurse Shortage To Improve The Quality Of Patient Care. Retrieved from https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.25.1.268