Discussion Board #1
Nurse Shortage
Nurse shortage is a result of changes in the health and health system as improvements occur to increase accessibility and quality of care through increased demand for staff to counter the adjustment. As the healthcare system becomes more efficient to accommodate more patients and improve in quality, there are few changes in nursing education to motivate more potential learners into the career. Changes like the Affordable Care Act, care coordination, economic recovery and market changes are increasing inflow of patients and retirement of nurses creating the demand for more nurses (American Nurse Association [ANA], n.d a). There will be more nurse shortage as the health and health system in America improves without an increase in the number of graduate nurses due to the increased number of patients.
Nurse Staffing
According to the American Nursing Association [ANA], (n.d b), Nurse staffing brought by inappropriate planning and policies is one of the challenges facing the American healthcare system by impacting patient outcomes and overall perception of care delivery. Low staffing of nurses provide an unsafe working condition for nurses due to work stress leading to poor quality of patient care when nurses get work burnout and limited time to observe safety and quality measures (ANA, n.d b). On the contrary, proper staffing of nurses can lead to improved overall healthcare because of the achieved appropriate working conditions allowing nurses to function within their trained practices. Proper healthcare policies and support on nurse professional development can help to overcome understaffing and unsafe working conditions and hence, improve patient outcomes in the healthcare system.
References
American Nurse Association [ANA] n.d a. ANA Health Care Economist Peter McMenamin on the Nursing Shortage Outlook. Retrieved from https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/workforce/nursing-shortage-outlook/
American Nurse Association [ANA] n.d b. Nurse Staffing. Retrieved from https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/nurse-staffing/