Nursing Shortages

“Nursing Shortages” Please respond to the following:

•Suggest two factors that are contributing to the current state of the nursing industry in the U.S. Focus on both internal and external influences. Provide specific examples to support your rationale.

•Analyze two issues that contribute to the current nursing shortage in the U.S., and propose a strategy to rectify this employment issue.

The U.S. is projected to experience a shortage of Registered Nurses (RNs) that is expected to intensify as Baby Boomers age and the need for health care grows. Compounding the problem is the fact that nursing schools across the country are struggling to expand capacity to meet the rising demand for care given the national move toward healthcare reform.

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is working with schools, policy makers, nursing organizations, and the media to bring attention to this healthcare concern. AACN is leveraging its resources to shape legislation, identify strategies, and form collaborations to address the shortage. Hospital fall to provide competitive pay and nurses are just tired of it.

Nursing school enrollment is not growing fast enough to meet the projected demand for RN and APRN services.

Though AACN reported a 2.6% enrollment increase in entry-level baccalaureate programs in nursing in 2013, this increase is not sufficient to meet the projected demand for nursing services. With the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010, more than 32 million Americans will soon gain access to healthcare services, including those provided by RNs and Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs).

According to AACN’s report on 2012-2013 Enrollment and Graduations in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing, U.S. nursing schools turned away 79,659 qualified applicants from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs in 2012 due to insufficient number of faculty, clinical sites, classroom space, clinical preceptors, and budget constraints. Almost two-thirds of the nursing schools responding to the survey pointed to faculty shortages as a reason for not accepting all qualified applicants into their programs.

According to a study released by the Southern Regional Board of Education (SREB) in February 2002, a serious shortage of nursing faculty was documented in 16 SREB states and the District of Columbia. Survey findings show that the combination of faculty vacancies (432) and newly budgeted positions (350) points to a 12% shortfall in the number of nurse educators needed. Unfilled faculty positions, resignations, projected retirements, and the shortage of students being prepared for the faculty role pose a threat to the nursing education workforce over the next five years.

http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media-relations/fact-sheets/nursing-shortage