Healthcare Labor Shortages Essay

Healthcare Labor Shortages
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Healthcare Labor Shortages
The nation of United States may have more physicians and nurses currently than in the past but they are not deployed or distributed efficiently. The projections of these shortages are normally based on the current dysfunctional method that causes them to be problematic (Nunley, 2008). There is a prediction by the government that by the year two thousand and twenty, there would be a shortage of around twenty-four thousand physicians and almost one million nurses. Thus, there is need to explore the healthcare labor shortages and understand the contributing factors and possible solutions, evaluating medical technology and issues facing pharmaceuticals.
One of the main factors contributing to health professional shortages may be the progressive retirement of the baby boomers. The baby boomers include the older generation nurses who may be headed for retirement because of the age factor, as well as lack of modernized medical learning experience that integrates technology. The insufficient staffing of both nurses and physicians is increasing the level of stress for these professionals and this impacts the job satisfaction and thus driving many of them to quit the profession (Shi & Singh, 2010). In addition, the procedure of retaining and educating new nurses is fading as the number of denied applicants continues to rise. The medical institutions have also failed to retain nurses and this is wasteful and costly, thus each percentage point a raise of nurse turnover which costs an average hospital around three hundred dollars per year. In order to address these issues contributing to health professional shortages, the government and private sectors are developing public-private partnerships, where they are working collectively in promoting physician and nursing programs. The alliances are also forged in providing both education and required funding. Moreover, technology-driven training is also being encouraged to improve clinical outcomes. This advancement in technology is helpful in enabling the caregivers to work effectively in concert with the others, permitting the focus to stay on value patient care.
Medical technologies and the pharmaceutical industry are leading to i...