Global Nursing Shortage

Global Nursing ShortageName:University:
1.0 Introduction
The nursing decline in numbers or shortage is a global challenge. This is affecting each and every country in the whole world. With this situation of global nurse shortage, a lot of patients are helpless since they are suffering because their daily healthcare workforce has proved not prepared to help them deal with all the necessary health needs. However, less is known on the global and regional causes of a residing professional and unprofessional nurses workforce (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2011). The nursing shortage situation has been projected to worsen significantly over the next two or so decades. This is true the present trends continue. The Department of Health and Human Services in the United States did a report in 2009. The report was titled Projected Supply, Demand, and Shortages of Registered Nurses. According to this report the current shortage will continue to deepen since increasing numbers of professional nurses are continually retiring from the nursing field compared to few nurses who continue venturing into the profession ((Hayes, 2012)).
2.0 Definition
To achieve the objective of this paper, an interview and a literature review has been performed with newly registered RN and using published literature mostly online peer reviewed journals. Main search areas involved global nursing shortage, general international nursing, global nurse migration, world brain drain, and world health care related systems (Brier, 2009). Understanding the definition of the nursing shortage is crucial and very important. How can we define nursing shortage? For purposes of this paper, we define nursing shortage as a situation where the demand for professional nurses is higher than the supply in the nursing industry. This is the current case in most of developing and developed world and especially in the United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009).
3.0 Global nurse shortage
It is argued that the nursing shortage can be caused by a situation where we have nurses who are very willing to work as professional nurses in the present conditions. This can further be absolute and also relative terms. We can say an absolute shortage of nurses is a situation where some or many skilled people are indeed not available for any specific vacancy in the nursing field (Clark & Allison-Jones 2011).There are 8 United Nation`s Millennium Development Goals (UN 2011) which include: 1) eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, 2) achieving universal primary education, 3) promoting gender equality and empower women, 4) reducing early child mortality, 5) improving maternal health care, 6) combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other related diseases, 7) ensuring environmental sustainability, and 8) developing a global partnership for development (UN 2011). From the millennium goals, we can have a huge impact if the shortage of nurses keeps on the rising. A god example is an effect on the child mortality, maternal health, and combating HV/AIDS. Human resources crisis is becoming predominant in the health sector, a situation which must be discussed and urgently addressed (Brier, 2009).
As discussed by American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) 2010-2011in their report, as estimated 67,563 applicants who were qualified were turned away un expectedly from baccalaureate and graduate nursing colleges and programs due to insufficiency in the available faculty and resources (AACN, 2011). Over the years, most of government chief nurses, different delegates and others from different countries do meet to discuss best ways to deal with the main and common challenge which is world increases of nursing shortages. It has been noted that the nursing shortages in some countries like the United Kingdom, neighboring countries and elsewhere do experience a repetitive situation or phenomenon. This is usually thought to be due to increasing nurse demand surpassing the slowly growing nurse supply. Today, nurse shortage situation is a very serious case. It can be concluded that the demand for nurses continues to increase or grow further (Hayes et al, 2009).
While some studies show that nurse projections for their supply heads to reductions in nurse availability in some of the developed countries. This situation is similar to the developing countries (Global nursing partnerships, 2011). The world crisis of decreasing nursing ad regional nurse shortage is on the policy agenda. Different initiatives have been ongoing in four different areas. Firstly, effort on improving nurse retention. This involve keeping scarce and declining nurses already employed. Much in terms of research has been done and is available. It shows that nurses are usually attracted and motivated to work and be working because of different opportunities purposed to develop them professionally. They are obligated to gain sovereignty, and to be participating in various decision making processes, at the same time being fairly and equally being rewarded. We can say that different factors on work environment are very crucial, and it is proposed that a decentralized style in the field of management, flexible and adequate employment openings or opportunities, and increasingly access to professional development is vital as can improve nurse retention and lead to improved patient care (IOM, 2011).
Secondly, countries can increase their recruitment base. Nursing sector has been recruiting from a specific delineated group especially of the young women. It has been noted that some of the countries do try different access routes in the field of nursing for wider range of recruits, this might include all the mature entrants, other entrants from the ethnic minorities groups, and more and less qualified new entrants. The last categories have some vocational qualifications or some work related experience (Hayes et al (2012). A third proposed strategy attracting returners into the nursing profession. Most of the countries have shown relatively greater pools of former employed nurses who possess the necessary nursing qualifications to go back or re-enter nursing. Such groups are very attractive to all governments since they offer relatively a quick solution. Nevertheless, very close attention must be paid to reasons why such nurses left earlier the health system and what can be done to bring them back (Johnson, 2009).A fourth and last intervention is the act of importing nurses to any country from others. Today, international recruitment is happening all over as employers target another , and do a recruitment of 50 -100 nurses same time. The developed countries have tendency of exploiting any push factor from the developing countries that are willing to cause a brain drain in their country by crossing any national boundary.
The push factors are due to low pay, unclear career structures, insufficient opportunities for quality basic and further education, while in some, the great threat of recurring violence (IOM, 2011). We can say that the ethics shown in some of discussed recruitment practices are questionable, mostly if a scarcity is not solved, and is only being restructured to a country poorly equipped to handle it. The drawbacks of the above situation are they center on nursing as main issue. In real sense, nursing shortages are frequently a symptom of greater health system or community ailments. Nursing in a lot of countries keep on being undervalued and is looked as related to women's work. Nurses are often given some limited access especially to the available resources which should be making them more effective in jobs and other career lines. For concrete sustainable solutions there are other interventions which are usually needed. All these must be based mostly on recognizing that health care initiative is very labor intensive. Through this the available nursing possessions should be used widely and effectively. Shortage is also on the health system functioning that enable nurses use all their skills well and effectively (Hayes et al, 2009).
4.0 Questions and responses from the newly registered RN
Interviewer: how is the state of nursing shortage in the world?
RN: Interviewer: Within all countries, nursing shortage is widely discussed and is thought to be caused by a number of factors that consequently cause the decrease the daily quality of health care being received.
Interviewer: what is global nursing shortage?
RN: Interviewer: The term is mostly defined in relation to the country`s actual historical staffing ranks, available resources and all e...