The nursing shortage why is it happening

An Aging Population — The baby boomers are going into their golden years. It is estimated by between and , one in every five people will be a senior citizen. An Aging Workforce — As the population ages, so do the nursing staff. Approximately one-third of the current nursing workforce is 50 years or older. A Limited Supply of New Nurses — There is a limit to the budgets and staff of nursing schools resulting in a bottleneck of graduating students.

So, what can employers do to manage this escalating nursing shortage? Short-Term Methods for Hospitals Currently, employers are incorporating financial incentives into their hiring such on as sign-on bonuses, as well as offering financial rewards to encourage nurses to work more or bring in traveling nurses. Recruiting the Top Nursing Talent Today, hospitals must focus must be on recruitment: finding ways to draw in the best prospects and keep them.

Providing this core information makes employees feel like they are part of the decision making process. Appreciation — Going that extra mile to ensure employees feel appreciated for their work is a critical part of the culture, as well.

The reality is that there is no cause of the nursing shortage in America, but there are several elements that are contributing to the situation. They include:. Growing Baby Boomer populations. Similarly, as more of the country ages, there are more people in need of care and not enough nurses currently in the field to meet those demands. Advancements in modern medical care that prolong life. While this is a good thing, it also means that people are living much longer than before, and needing more care as they age.

The nursing workforce simply isn't large enough to handle the older people who are living longer due to better health care. Similarly as new technology in health care advances, there will be a shortage of registered nurses who understand and can work with the new technology.

More RNs are needed who can be trained on new technology and help teach it to others. Lack of current resources to train new nurses. Insufficient numbers of nurse faculty and classroom space are leading to many nursing student applicants being turned away. Most nursing schools don't actively recruit for their health care programs because they themselves have staffing issues, unable to get the faculty or classroom space to educate the number of students who want to enroll.

Many nurses leaving the field. Because there is a shortage of incoming nurses, there is a high demand on current RNs. Many RNs find they are scheduled many hours with lots of patients in order to cover for the shortages. This can lead to more stress and lower levels of job satisfaction, and can actually drive nurses away from the profession.

There are currently 3. But the current nursing shortage isn't just in the numbers. The exodus of experienced nurses leaving the front lines, as well as turnover among early-career nurses, have led to a widening skills gap, creating major implications for a healthcare system in need. Experts had raised awareness about a shortage in highly skilled nurses long before the pandemic. The Institute of Medicine published a report in , calling for more nurse training to meet healthcare demands.

Additionally, a paper in Nursing Economics estimated that from to , more than 1 million registered nurses would retire from the workforce -- taking years of knowledge with them. While the U. Most recently, the American Nurses' Association called for the Department of Health and Human Services to " declare a national nurse staffing crisis ," proposing workforce retention strategies and more training opportunities, among other solutions.

Two-thirds stated that their experiences during the crisis have caused them to consider leaving nursing. The pandemic has created unprecedented working conditions for nurses and other healthcare workers, said Shawna Butler, RN, MBA, a nurse economist based in Texas. Nurses have been working with short staffs, increasing their caseloads.

The influx of critically ill patients has overwhelmed ICUs and emergency departments, creating working environments that are untenable, or even unsafe. Additionally, many nurses have taken on the increased emotional burden of becoming sole support systems for patients in their dying hours, many of whom could not see their families.