The Issue Of Nurse Shortage

The nursing profession is a crucial part of any health care workforce. Nurses are more than just caregivers. They’re also technical experts, educators, counselors, and more. However, New Zealand continues to have a shortage of skilled nurses. This assignment investigates the shortages and impact on nursing professionals of the healthcare workforce. The nurses’ quality of care has a direct impact on the health and recovery of patients. Nurses are in short supply and therefore, they have difficulty providing quality care to patients. The shortage crisis has led to a number of consequences, including increased workloads, a change in the nurse-to-patient ratio, and missed appointments.

Recruitment difficulties among young people are a factor in the nursing shortage. Pool (2012), in a recent research, argues that for young people to be more interested in nursing and to stay with it, they must first increase the social value. In this research, a group young students was asked to express their opinions about nursing. The study shows that the stereotypes of nursing were a factor in young people not choosing nursing for a career. One participant described the role of a nurse by identifying the tasks that she believed nurses perform. She says, “it’s like doctors [nursing], but doctors have more qualifications.” They do things with the people. I don’t really know… maybe they just carry the book around, or perhaps they assist the doctors. The participants also stated that the media influences their decision to pursue a career in nursing. In the media, nursing is rarely mentioned. Only 4% of all health-related articles published in 16 different publications mention the profession. The lack of media exposure for this profession has a negative effect on it as they do not appear as experts and key leaders. Because of this, the nursing profession was invisible to the participants. In part, the nursing shortage is caused by the difficulty of recruiting students into nursing schools.

Ageing populations is another factor contributing to shortages of nurses. The longer people live, the greater the demand for nurses and other health-care services. It is evident that there will likely be an increase of 75% in the demand within 10 years for nurses and caretakers who work with elderly patients. Nursing is in crisis as it’s hard to recruit young people.

The nursing profession is facing shortages, which has increased the workload of nurses. The increased workload causes nurses to become fatigued, which compromises the safety of patients. According to an article by a New Zealand publication called ‘Nursing Praxis in New Zealand”, nearly 1/3 of NZ registered nurses said they were more involved in non-nursing tasks. Nearly 2/3 of NZ respondents said that they had an increased involvement in administrative and clerical duties. 40% of NZ respondents also reported that their time spent in medical roles has increased over the past 12 months. It is clear that nurses burn out due to long shifts, assigned roles and excessive work. Burnout has a significant impact on patient outcomes and the quality care provided. In an infamous 2007 case, a Wisconsin nurse accidentally killed a Wisconsin patient when she administered intravenous Bupivacaine for an epidural that was not ordered. The case states that “the nurse worked her eight-hour regular shift and then volunteered to work another shift on the same day”. Scheduled to work at 7am on July 5, the nurse slept inside the hospital when she finished her two shifts. According to the sample results, burnout is caused by the increased workload that nurses are facing. Nurse fatigue is detrimental to patient care because nurses have direct contact with patients.

A negative change in the ratio of nurses per patient is caused by a shortage of staff and an increase in hospital admissions. This shortage threatens patient safety by increasing error rates, morbidity rates and mortality. A New Zealand nurse, in a thesis about patient’s safety, claimed that there was a change from 1:4 nurses to every patient to 1 1 7 nurses. This imbalance can make a nurse feel very tired, which could affect the care they provide to their patients. The thesis emphasizes an important fact: understaffing of nurses can increase the risk that patients will fall. Patient falls are usually preventable. However, nurses have a difficult time preventing them due to a lack of staff. One patient had dementia and was kept in a dark room, not visible from the nursing station. The ward had a short staff and nurses were “running around frantically” when the patient fell to his death while walking from the toilets. No nurses were present at the time. The short-staffing problem was sometimes made worse by sickness absenteeism. Infections and other illnesses are more likely to spread when fewer nursing staff have direct contact with a higher number of patients. The author points out that in one case, 26 nurses had reported sick but only 7 were able to be replaced due to a shortage. One study showed that for every additional patient, there was a 7% higher mortality rate and a failure to rescue rate. There were also 23% more chances of burnout among nurses and 15% more of dissatisfaction with their jobs. The study concluded that a higher number of registered nurses is associated with improved patient outcomes and care. The study concludes that a sufficient number of nurses will likely provide adequate care to patients.

Nursing care may be delayed or even missed due to insufficient nursing staff. Missed nurse care is any aspect that is not provided or is delayed. In order to achieve the best possible outcome for patients, nurses must deliver high-quality care. A nurse may be unable to provide the full range of care for a patient if there aren’t enough staff. As previously stated, the impact of this is seen in medication errors and falls. Conelis Teakman’s thesis found that the documentation of nursing assessments was not always complete and was rarely reviewed. The assessment form was often completed without consultation with the patient. This could affect patient safety. Teekman stated that, although patients did not meet some of their basic needs – like showering and not getting up from bed – this was not because they were being neglected but that it was “cancelled” in order to keep patients alive.

Conclusion: The shortage of nurse has many adverse effects on the profession. For example, burnouts are common, as is a decrease in the ratio of nurse to patients. These factors influence the quality of nursing care provided to patients. Recruitment difficulties are a major cause of nursing shortages, and they can be easily avoided. The ageing of New Zealand’s population cannot be avoided, so aged care nurses will always be in demand. Nurses are forced to expand their roles due to a shortage of healthcare professionals. In turn, this fatigue increases the likelihood of mistakes. Prioritizing can be a challenge when there aren’t enough staff to provide care. Lack of staff often results in care that is not provided to the fullest extent or on an adequate basis.