Nursing shortage

Nursing shortage refers to a situation where the demand for nursing professionals, such as Registered Nurses (RNs), exceeds the supply—locally (e.g., within a health care facility), nationally or globally. It can be measured, for instance, when the nurse-to-patient ratio, the nurse-to-population ratio, or the number of job openings necessitates a higher number of nurses than currently available. This situation is observed in developed and developing nations around the world.

Nursing shortage is not necessarily due to a lack of supply of trained nurses. In some cases, perceived shortages occur simultaneously with increased admission rates of students into nursing schools. Potential factors include lack of adequate staffing ratios in hospitals and other health care facilities, lack of placement programs for newly trained nurses, and inadequate worker retention incentives.

Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates a shortage of almost 4.3 million nurses, physicians and other health human resources worldwide—reported to be the result of decades of underinvestment in health worker education, training, wages, working environment and management.

Nursing shortage is an issue in many countries. To remedy the problem, psychological studies have been completed to ascertain how nurses feel about their career in the hope that they can determine what is preventing some nurses from keeping the profession as a long-term career. In a study completed by sociologist Bryan Turner, the study found that the most common nursing complaints were:

A report from the Commonwealth of Australia identified a few other matters that led to nurse dissatisfaction:

Another study found that nurse dissatisfaction stemmed from:

In many jurisdictions, administrative/government health policy and practice has changed very little in the last decades. Cost-cutting is the priority, patient loads are uncontrolled, and nurses are rarely consulted when recommending health care reform. The major reason nurses plan to leave the field, as stated by the First Consulting Group, is because of working conditions. With the high turnover rate, the nursing field does not have a chance to build up the already frustrated staff. Aside from the deteriorating working conditions, the real problem is "nursing’s failure to be attractive to the younger generation." There’s a decline in interest among college students to consider nursing as a probable career. More than half of currently working nurses "would not recommend nursing to their own children" and a little less than a quarter would advise others to avoid this as a profession altogether.

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Wikipedia