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The problem of registered nurses (RN) shortage is predicted to escalate in the near future due to the aging population. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (2015), by 2024, the demand for new medical assistants would reach 1.09 million people due to sector growth and the need for old staff replacement. Furthermore, health care requires not only an increase in the number of medical personnel but also in the quality of service. However, the realization of both plans faces certain barriers, such as scarcity of nursing undergraduate and graduate programs and high levels of expected retirement. Therefore, it is necessary to elaborate on solutions that would address the RN shortage issue.
The evidence suggests that such a lack of nurses and their low educational level leads to deterioration of provided services. For instance, Needleman et al. (2011) found that understaffing among medical assistance may positively affect patient mortality rates. In addition, the systematic review conducted by Audet et al. (2018) reveals that higher education among RN is negatively associated with failure to rescue and mortality rates.
The strategies to address the existing problem may be twofold: retaining the existing staff or preparing a new workforce. However, the latter approach should be prioritized due to its long-term sustainability comparing with the former. Therefore, it is suggested that private and public hospitals, the government, and universities should join their forces to increase the availability of nursing programs. Such collaborative efforts would allow accumulating and exchanging substantial financial and non-financial resources necessary to educational institutions. For instance, successful collaboration strategies can be adapted from the best practices during COVID-19 (e.g., see the paper by Villarroel et al., 2021).
In conclusion, the reasons which lead to the shortage of RN in medical institutions and the effects of such lack of specialists on the healthcare services were identified. It was found that the insufficient medical assistants number and level of education can cause the growth of patient mortality and failure to rescue. The reasons for the professional shortage are future significant retirement rates due to age and lack of available educational opportunities to substitute resigned employees as well as satisfy new demands of an aging population. To address the latter issue, it was suggested that there should be new private-public forms of collaboration among all the stakeholders involved in order to increase educational opportunities.
References
Audet, L. A., Bourgault, P., & Rochefort, C. M. (2018). Associations between nurse education and experience and the risk of mortality and adverse events in acute care hospitals: A systematic review of observational studies. International journal of nursing studies, 80, 128-146.
Needleman, J., Buerhaus, P., Pankratz, V. S., Leibson, C. L., Stevens, S. R., & Harris, M. (2011). Nurse staffing and inpatient hospital mortality. New England Journal of Medicine, 364(11), 1037-1045.
US Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2015). Occupational employment projections to 2024. Web.
Villarroel, L., Christ, C. M., Smith, L., Larsen, C., Staab, R. N., White, M. D., Frey, K.A., Brown, J., Wilson, D., Chapital, A., Gerhardt, A., Gammon, H., Feddersen, M.L., King, D. & Wilhoite, K. B. (2021). Collaboration on the Arizona Surge Line: How Covid-19 Became the Impetus for Public, Private, and Federal Hospitals to Function as One System. NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery, 2(1).
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