Is There an End in Sight to the Nursing Shortage?
While the end of the COVID-19 pandemic is “in sight”, according to the Chief of the World Health Organization (WHO), that doesn’t mean the ramifications of the disease in nursing and healthcare industries will be resolved anytime soon. In the first two months of the pandemic, 1.5 million health care jobs were lost and, while many of those jobs have been reinstated, 176,000 jobs are yet to be filled compared to February 2020 levels, explains the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Unfortunately, some of the hardest-hit healthcare workers are nurses. Despite nearly 4.3 million registered nurses currently working, the need for healthcare workers, especially nurses, is felt in almost every part of the medical industry. Americans are experiencing longer wait times and some are even being turned away entirely in life-threatening emergencies. What’s caused the current nursing shortage and what can be done to turn the tide and save more lives?
Various factors led to current nursing crisis
In a letter sent back in March this year, the American Hospital Association warned the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the current nursing and hospital worker shortage is a “national emergency”, predicting a shortage of 1.1 million nurses that would be needed by the end of the year. And this doesn’t even include the lab workers and paramedics needed.
In some ways, this shortage makes sense. Nursing is a growing field, with the federal government predicting that 200,000+ nursing positions would be created every year until 2031. It’s also one of the most important fields, comprising the largest piece of the healthcare workforce by providing the bulk of the nation’s hospital patient care and long-term care... and the pandemic only exacerbated this need.
Before COVID-19 hit, nurses were already being pushed to the brink because of a higher number of retiring nurses than new nurses, an increased need for helping elderly and chronic disease patients, and less-than-ideal support from other healthcare positions. Once the pandemic hit, the need for resident nurses surged, making an already overburdened and strained nursing population much more stressed. Health disparities also became more apparent.
One survey from global strategic firm McKinsey & Company showed that 29% of resident nurses were likely to leave patient care by March 2022 and 15% of those resident nurses were going to leave healthcare altogether. All these factors have led to the nursing shortage Americans are dealing with now. But what does the future hold?
More nurses are needed while patients become active participants
Unfortunately, there is no single solution to the current nursing shortage. However, surveyed nurses have said that increased compensation, greater time off, a more manageable workload, and feeling valued by their medical organization are all factors taken into account when deciding whether to return to nursing.
Hospitals need to provide nurses with comprehensive support to retain current personnel. Nursing must also become a more lucrative, attractive role. While technology — like simulation trainers — workforce innovations, and strategic configuration of existing personnel will help in the short term, a severely diminished workforce will continue to wreak havoc on a population that is increasingly elderly and suffering from chronic illnesses. By 2040, people who are 65 years or older will increase by 26 million, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Simply put, more nurses must be hired.
Of course, this is easier said than done. To meet the current and future demand of nurses, the United States needs to innovations in self-dialysis lets patients perform their own dialysis at specific centers or at home.
No matter what, in the end, more nurses will be needed before the burden on the healthcare system will cease.
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