Addressing the nursing shortage
Nurses have been overworked and emotionally exhausted for years, but the pandemic has made everything worse. Experienced nurses are frustrated that they are no longer able to provide quality care, and new nurses feel unsupported and have not yet learned how to cope with the stress of the job.
At the beginning of the pandemic, nurses were heroes. Since then, nurses have worked under increasingly stressful conditions with limited resources and support, factors which forced people out of the profession and deterred people from becoming nurses.
As the need for skilled nursing labor increases, it is imperative that we identify the causes of the nursing shortage and work to correct them before it does serious damage to our health care system.
Year after year, people agree that nursing is the most trusted profession. Nursing can open doors to many different careers, nurses make good wages and there is a high levels of job security. So why is there such a significant shortage of nurses in the workforce?
First, not only are nurses retiring, but some are choosing to leave the profession altogether. As patient acuity rises and technology gets more complex, some nurses cannot handle the added physical and mental stress.
Another contributor is that, as the population gets older, there are more people requiring skilled nursing care, but not enough nurses to effectively care for the increased patient load.
When people think of nursing shortages, they often think of nurses in a hospital setting. However, there is also a shortage of nurse educators. Due to a lack of educators, nursing programs must cap their pre-licensure admission capacity, which means the number of nurses able to enter the workforce at any given time is limited, as well.
Finally, nurse burnout has been an increasing problem. Nurses have been overworked and emotionally exhausted for years, but the pandemic has made everything worse. Experienced nurses are frustrated that they are no longer able to provide quality care, and new nurses feel unsupported and have not yet learned how to cope with the stress of the job.
To help find the solution to the nursing shortage, we must first identify the challenges that nurses are facing. In 2021, the biggest challenges that nurses reported were: emotional trauma, fear of getting COVID or getting a loved one sick, exhaustion, being overworked and underpayment.
During the pandemic, the media discussed the shortages of ventilators, tests and PPE daily, with articles regarding these shortages trending daily in the United States; however, the nursing staffing shortages during this time were largely ignored by the media. Lower staffing ratios have been shown to lead to poor outcomes in all areas of nursing, not just the hospital setting. In one study, it was shown that nursing homes with nurse and staff shortages had higher COVID-19 infection rates.
As mentioned previously, a large issue with nursing is retention of new nurses. In one literature review, researchers analyzed the results of 13 different publications regarding millennials’ expectations of their work and leaders, and it was determined that these workers expected strong leadership, advancement opportunities, alignment of organizational and personal values, good coworker relationships, healthy work-life balance, recognition and cutting-edge technology. To increase resilience and make nurses feel more supported at work, employers should strive to create workplaces that meet these expectations. Leadership should promote self-care, create support networks for their employees, and improve organizational structures that allow for positive working experiences.
Nurses are clear when discussing what they need from their employers to feel supported and do their jobs. It is up to employers to focus less on profits, and more on patient care and employee satisfaction. Together, we can work toward making better work environments for nurses.