Description of the nursing shortage challenges to patients and nurses Inadequate staffing and long hours affects the health of nurses by increasing the risk of back and shoulder injuries. According to the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (2012), there were 65,050 nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses among all healthcare practitioners and technical occupations that resulted in a median of 7 days out of work. Nurses experience stress surrounding a poor nurse to patient ratio, which can be a contributing factor to leaving the profession (Hairr & Salibury, 2014). Low staffing affects the health outcomes of both patients and nurses by decreasing patient safety and increasing nurse injury. Patient safety is a major priority in healthcare. Inadequate staffing leads to problems with patient safety. Nurses with extremely large workloads are constantly rushing to take care of their patients. According to evidence based nursing practice, rushing can lead to more medication errors, increases in co-morbidities, and more complications (AORN Journal, 2013). Medication errors such as giving the wrong medication to the wrong patient at the wrong time can negatively affect patient outcome. Patients can also feel that the nurse is taking too long to answer the call light and try to get out of bed, possibly resulting in a fall. Any way you look at it, the effects of staffing on nurse wellbeing and patient safety is a big issue. Several Barriers to Overcoming the Challenge of Nursing Shortages Several staffing barriers are linked in their effects to the nursing shortage. Nursing work shifts have changed from 8-hours to longer 12-hours shifts. The number of faculty nurse educators has decreased, nurse turnover rates leave vacancies, and the cost of education has increased. The population has shifted to an increase in older people living longer. These factors have implications on nurse staffing, and nurse staffing advertently affects nurses and the clients they care for. Nurses caring for their patients around the clock has not changed, however the concepts of around the clock nursing have …show more content…
Nurses no longer sleep in wards near their patients. The 24-hour clock has been split into shift work. Initially the split was three 8-hour shifts, but in the 1970s to aid in the alleviation of the nursing shortage 24-hour staffing was changed to two 12-hour shifts (Rollins, 2015). Most nurses found the 12-hour shifts appealing. The 12-hour shifts led to less work hours and less work days, allowing nurses to better balance their job and family life. However, this change adversely affected the quality of patient care and nurse …show more content…
(Snavely, 2012). Most employed baby boomers will be preparing to retire from the labor force within the next 10-15 years. As baby boomers exit the labor force they will be leaving numerous gaps, and collectively taking thousands of years of experience along with them. The younger generation that will be filling these vacancies numbers about half the size of the baby boomer generation (Snavely, 2012). The baby boomers also present another problem with nurse staffing. Due to the increased chronic health issues, like COPD, arthritis, metabolic syndrome, and illnesses that are endemic to the elderly, there will be an increased need for nursing personnel for an increasingly aged population.
There are numerous issues that present barriers to staffing nurses and to the decreasing number of nurses entering the labor force. It will be left to those entering the nursing profession to effectively use the knowledge gained from many years of experience that the nurses exiting the profession will be endowing to them.
Opportunities for Overcoming the Challenges Surrounding Low