Within the next ten years, more than one million registered nurses in the United States will be eligible for retirement. This will potentially leave the nursing profession with the largest shortage in history. The need for health care is only growing due to the aging baby boomer population. “Nursing researchers have noted that the projected nursing shortage, if not rectified, is expected to affect health care cost, job satisfaction and quality patient care” (Lartey, 2014, p. 1027). Without an adequate number of nurses’ patient safety is at risk, resulting in medical errors due to understaffing. Many nurses across the country are feeling dissatisfied with their careers due to understaffing, undertraining, bullying, and negative stereotypes.
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Nurses in the United States currently comprise the largest number of health care professionals (ANA, 2016). The last nursing shortage occurred in the early 2000s. The recession of 2007 brought the profession out of shortage due to many part time and stay at home moms returning to full time employment. The Nursing shortage is expected to come back due to nurses returning to pre-recession work levels, retirements, insufficient people going into nursing, and fewer nurses specializing in certain areas (Snavely, 2016). “The RN workforce is expected to grow from 2.71 million in 2012 to 3.24 million in 2022, an increase of 526,800 or 19%. The Bureau also projects the need for 525,000 replacement nurses in the workforce, bringing the total number of job openings for nurses due to growth and replacements to 1.05 million by 2022” (Nursing Shortage, 2016). As a registered nurse in an operating room my department has already felt the effects of the baby boomers retiring. It takes a minimum of six months to train a nurse to work in the operating room. This is true for many departments and specialties, making it uneasy to have a fast replacement for the …show more content…
They face difficult psychological and intellectual challenges such as clinical competency and preparedness to practice. New nursing graduates struggle also affects the care of patients and the health care organization. (Welding, 2011). “Nursing is highly rewarding, yet incredibly stressful and demanding both for the caregiver and family members. Burnout, fatigue, and stress cause many nurses to leave the vocation only a few years after entering into it. An estimated 30%-50% of all new RNs either change jobs within nursing or leave the profession altogether within the first 3 years of clinical practice” (Snavely, 2016, p. 98). I know first-hand the challenges that come with being a new nurse. It’s not always easy to connect your classroom experiences to real life practice. As a new graduate you are nervous and fear making a medical error. It’s a very stressful transition and anything that can ease the pressure is helpful. Although new graduates face challenges they are the future of nursing and are eager to learn, and have the desire to help
Nurses in the United States currently comprise the largest number of health care professionals (ANA, 2016). The last nursing shortage occurred in the early 2000s. The recession of 2007 brought the profession out of shortage due to many part time and stay at home moms returning to full time employment. The Nursing shortage is expected to come back due to nurses returning to pre-recession work levels, retirements, insufficient people going into nursing, and fewer nurses specializing in certain areas (Snavely, 2016). “The RN workforce is expected to grow from 2.71 million in 2012 to 3.24 million in 2022, an increase of 526,800 or 19%. The Bureau also projects the need for 525,000 replacement nurses in the workforce, bringing the total number of job openings for nurses due to growth and replacements to 1.05 million by 2022” (Nursing Shortage, 2016). As a registered nurse in an operating room my department has already felt the effects of the baby boomers retiring. It takes a minimum of six months to train a nurse to work in the operating room. This is true for many departments and specialties, making it uneasy to have a fast replacement for the …show more content…
They face difficult psychological and intellectual challenges such as clinical competency and preparedness to practice. New nursing graduates struggle also affects the care of patients and the health care organization. (Welding, 2011). “Nursing is highly rewarding, yet incredibly stressful and demanding both for the caregiver and family members. Burnout, fatigue, and stress cause many nurses to leave the vocation only a few years after entering into it. An estimated 30%-50% of all new RNs either change jobs within nursing or leave the profession altogether within the first 3 years of clinical practice” (Snavely, 2016, p. 98). I know first-hand the challenges that come with being a new nurse. It’s not always easy to connect your classroom experiences to real life practice. As a new graduate you are nervous and fear making a medical error. It’s a very stressful transition and anything that can ease the pressure is helpful. Although new graduates face challenges they are the future of nursing and are eager to learn, and have the desire to help