Nov30
{guest post} Nursing Shortage
The Nursing Shortage: What Caused it and What Can be Done?
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When Leigh visited her bedridden grandmother, Abigail, at a nursing home, she found her in agony, pressing the nurse call button in vain. Leigh went to the nurses’ station, waving whenever she caught a fleeting glimpse of a nurse. Three days later Abigail died. Leigh would always be haunted by how the shortage of nurses increased her grandmother’s suffering. As serious as the nursing shortage is now, the understaffing problem will likely get worse. In order to resolve this shortage we first need to understand why it exists and what can be done to alleviate the situation.
Vanderbilt nursing professor Peter Buerhaus says that the nursing shortage began on the supply side, with fewer people going into nursing. Since the mid-80’s young people have been choosing degrees that lead to high-paying careers, with women increasingly entering male-dominated professions. At the same time, the existing nursing staff has been getting older. However, now the problem is becoming one of demand as well, as the baby boom generation becomes older and increasingly needs medical care.
Ironically, nursing shortages beget more nursing shortages, in a vicious spiral. When hospitals become understaffed, nurses must care for more patients at a time. Not only does this create job stress, it leads to worse patient outcomes. The result is often burnout, causing nurses to leave the profession. However this vicious spiral has not gone unnoticed. Some hospitals are trying to improve working environments to attract more nurses. Additionally several states have gotten into the act by establishing minimum nurse-to-patient ratios, and nursing unions are using staffing ratios as a bargaining point.
Unfortunately the shortage is not only caused by fewer people going into nursing, but also by a bottleneck at the schools supplying nurses. From 2010 to 2011, nursing schools turned away 67,563 qualified applicants. This is largely due to the fact that there are simply not enough qualified faculty members to teach them, and the required teacher-to-student ratios are low. In order to combat this problem many universities have set up online nursing programs. These programs are less expensive for schools to run and solve the logistical problems many prospective students encounter. Meanwhile others schools have proposed setting up online programs that offer master’s degrees and PhDs, so nurses who want to become college professors don’t have to quit their jobs to go back to school. For example, the University of West Georgia and Georgia Southwestern have recently approached the Board of Regents about developing such programs.
Additionally, some state governments and universities have set up scholarships to entice nurses into teaching college. States such as Maryland, Illinois and Arkansas have large scholarships funds available for prospective nurse educators. Other states and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have loan forgiveness programs. Likewise, individual schools such as the Medical College of Georgia also set up nurse educator scholarships, and many hospitals now reimburse nurses when they get additional education.
Although the forecast for nursing is dire, there is hope. More men are entering the profession to replace women who have left. Increasing numbers of scholarships are available both for people who want to go into nursing and those who want to teach nurses. Universities are looking at increasing pay scales for nurse educators. For people considering nursing as a career, the field is wide open.
By Brittany Lyons
