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Introduction
Nursing practice as a profession reflects the changing needs of the society in terms of healthcare requirements. A few decades ago, nursing practice involved nurses acting as the immediate care-givers of patients in hospital settings. However, with the rapid changes experienced in the healthcare field, nursing practice has also been changing with time. Currently, nurses are not only required to provide care to patients in hospitals but they are also involved in community-based nursing care. This is attributable to the large number of patients who undergo short-lived stays in hospitals after which they go back to their homes whereby they require additional home-based nursing care (Cowen & Moorhead, 2006, p. 23).
Therefore, many family members related to patients who need home-based nursing care face complex situations considering that they lack the basic principles of administering nursing care. This then calls for additional nurses who can provide community-based nursing care. This is besides the already expanding demand for nurses in administrative services, research institutions, and as faculty members. These current challenges are causing a variety of serious shortages in almost all areas of nursing practice (Cowen & Moorhead, 2006, p. 33). Besides, current studies indicate that the United States is bound to experience a shortage of more than 265,000 trained nurses by the year 2015.
This research paper seeks to analyze the article, Growing Your Own, which is based on a description of the web-based program that aims at producing accelerated nursing staff with second degrees in order to address the increasing nursing shortages. Besides, the paper provides an alternative strategy to this problem, which is based on innovative approaches that aim at encouraging school and college level kids to join the nursing profession. In this way, it is believed that the problem of nursing shortages will be solved.
Article Analysis
This article presents an innovative approach to solving shortages in the nursing practice through an online-based accelerated education model, which produces accelerated students who are then assigned to specific hospital-based experts or coaches for additional training. The program draws studentship from a variety of fields including fresh graduates and adult learners into the nursing field (Allen et al., 2010, p. 118). This collaborative approach is appropriate in solving the problem of nursing shortages considering that the web-based nursing education prepares nurses to deal with complex situations in nursing care while still working in their respective communities.
In addition, since the program incorporates technology into training and coaching in nursing practice, it gives the learners the opportunity to advance their college education and first degrees to fit into the technology-driven hospital settings and systems. On the other hand, the importance of this approach is based on fact that the program comprises of learners with assertive learning characteristics (Allen et al., 2010, p. 119). Learners with basic knowledge and experience in nursing practice require solutions to various workplace problems rather than the theoretical facts about their practice. In this way, these students are capable of directing the learning process while allowing the trainers to facilitate this process. Another important aspect of this program is that it enables the students to gather work experiences through observation and the collaborative supervision of trained experts in a hospital environment. This allows the students to be independent in service delivery besides developing excellent nurse-client relationships. However, the whole program dependents on successful and timely communication between all stakeholders involved in the program (Allen et al., 2010, p. 122).
In addition, like any other online-based educational program, this web-based accelerated nursing education has many pitfalls. Firstly, the program admits students who have no previous nursing education and experience thus making it hard to train them. Secondly, considering that training entails mediated interactions between the instructor and the students, it will not be possible to successfully train those students with no past knowledge or experience in nursing. Furthermore, the program lacks training in policy development and the politics of the nursing practice. These are important aspects of nursing practice, which allows nurses to acquire skills that enable them to serve all healthcare clients in a democratic manner (Mason et al., 2007).
Alternative Strategies
In order to successfully address the problem of nursing shortages, it is imperative to encourage children into nursing and other healthcare professions (Cohen et al., 2006, p. 186). This approach is useful especially among the minority groups in the United States who are underrepresented in most healthcare fields. Besides, several studies indicate that over 3000 communities mostly comprising of minority groups lack fundamental mental, medical, and dental services due to underrepresentation in healthcare professions (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2002). Therefore, encouraging children from these communities into most healthcare fields at a tender age implies that they would have a better chance of serving their communities relative to their needs. This strategy is achievable through collaborating with middle and high schools, community colleges, high school guidance and career counselors, and State leaders and nursing practitioners in developing initiatives aimed at encouraging more youthful skills into the nursing profession.
Conclusion
This research paper describes strategies and approaches aimed at addressing the problem of nursing shortages in most healthcare facilities in the United States. Through the analysis of the article, Growing Your Own, it is indicated that the web-based educational program for nurses is appropriate for solving the problem despite having a few pitfalls. On the other hand, the paper provides an alternative strategy and approach to the problem, which involves encouraging the young children and students to join the nursing profession. These students particularly those from the minority populations would provide a vast number of healthcare professionals who will satisfy the needs of their respective communities.
Reference list
Allen, P., VanDyke, Y., Armstrong, M.L. (2010). Growing Your Own Nursing staff with a collaborative accelerated second-degree, web-based program. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 41 (3), 118-122.
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2002). Nursing shortage fact sheet. Web.
Cohen, R., Burns, K., Frank-Stromborg, M., Flanagan, J., Askins, D.L., & Ehrlich-Jones, L. (2006). The kids into health careers (KIHC) initiative: Innovative approaches to help solve the nursing shortage. Journal of Nursing Education, 45 (5), 186-189.
Cowen, P.S., & Moorhead, S. (2006). Current issues in nursing (6th ed.). St. Louis, MD: Mosby Elsevier.
Mason, D., Lewart, J. & Chaffee, M. (2007). Policy & politics in nursing and health care (5th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Saunders Elsevier.
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