Nursing shortage

One very common area of nursing that is a growing problem is the nursing shortage. “Most studies agree, RNs constitute the largest healthcare occupation, with 2.3 million jobs. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) reports that 126,000 nursing positions are unfilled in hospitals, accounting for an overall vacancy rate of 13% for nursing positions” (Robinson, Jagim, & Ray, 2004). The nursing shortage is a personal and professional hazard not only to the nurses, but the patients as well.”If staffing is inadequate, nurses contend it threatens patient health and safety, results in greater complexity of care, and impacts their health and safety by increasing fatigue and rate of injury” (Gooch, 2015). I work in a small ER in California. Now, most people will say, “California has mandated staffing ratios”, but I am here to tell you by experience that that statement is not 100% accurate. There are MANY nights where we are understaffed and over rationed, with only 3 nurses to triage, asses, start IV’s, medicate, chart, discharge and sometimes handle multiple codes and traumas in one night. And no, most nights we do not have any ED techs or CNA’s to help with EKG’s, placing people on monitors or any of those types of task. Being short staffed is physically and mentally draining and extremely unsafe for patient care and overworked nurses. So the question is why is there such a nursing shortage? Is nursing school/state boards to strict? Is it because the aging workforce is moving into retirement and into less stressful roles? Is it because of overall job dissatisfaction with the heavy workloads, underpay, and inadequate staffing? All of these could be a reason as to why there is a large nursing shortage and should be further evaluated to help promote nurse and patient safety.

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