A Study of Nursing Shortage

Nursing shortage refers to a state of events when the demand for registered nurses surpasses the supply within a facility of health care, either in a specific location, at a national level or on the global front.

One of the factors that lead to such a situation is insufficient placement programs for the freshly trained nurses as well as inadequate retention incentives for the workers. These often discourage the new graduates and many opt for alternative jobs (Zerwekh & Garneau, 2011). The other factor that has really accelerated nursing shortage is inadequate staffing ratios in the health facilities. This leads to burdening of the few nurses present leading to discouragement and finally, abandonment of the career.

Nurses have come to the realization that a diversified nursing workforce is one of the ways of addressing health care, which is culturally diversified. Since the society has become very diverse, the nursing workforce also has an obligation to reflect the changes in the population. The other benefits of a diversified workforce include cultural competency, more refined and high quality health care services as well as improvement on the entire system of healthcare.

There are various reasons why it is necessary to bridge the differences among nurses of varied backgrounds, so that they can identify with a common nursing ideology and mission. The most apparent reason is that every nurse should be able to care for any client. The clients may not often be of the same culture as the nurse. Secondly, being culturally competent is not just a good thought, but it is a responsibility. This is because when the nurses become culturally competent, it is not the clients alone that benefit but also the students and even the health facilities (Haynes, Butcher & Boese, 2004). Although foreign nurses are as equally qualified as their American counterparts, many patients feel unsettled by a real or imagined language barrier. Some patients are under the impression that their nurse’s ability to speak English is directly tied to his or her ability to provide adequate health care. This leads to uncertainty, doubt, and anxiety in a patient already stressed by illness or injury.

Altruism refers to the concern geared towards the wellbeing and welfare of other people. It is an expression of selflessness concern for other people, when obviously there is no reward to be gained, and the only driving force is the strong belief that someone else is bound to benefit or avoid an impending harm.

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