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Staffing Shortage

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STAFFING SHORGAGE

Sophy Thomas

American Sentinel University

Staffing Shortage

Nursing is a profession that is in demand however we have a current shortage that will increase over the coming years. Mittelman (2010) reports that we will have a short fall of at least one million nurses by the year 2020. The implications of this shortage are widespread. Consequently much attention about the nursing shortage (beside to administrative leaders) has captured the attention of health organizations, policy makers, researchers, academic institutions, and the profession itself (Kirschling, Colgan, & Andrews, 2011). A significant amount of attention targets hospitals since they employ the largest percentage of nurses. Importantly, challenges that stem from the nursing shortage must be addressed in a proactive manner to support endeavors of providing excellent patient care for patients, families, and communities served. Furthermore, healthier environments would help prevent burnout among nurses producing poor morale. Retention of current nurses and attracting new individuals to the profession is paramount if we are to sustain adequate numbers of qualified professionals. Healthcare organizations are the cornerstone of nursing employment. These institutions have difficulty hiring new staff as well as keeping current professional nurses. Halfer (2011) reported that hospital leaders must support nursing job satisfaction as well as professional practice development. In effect, this will result in an increased probability of retaining staff that are incredibly expensive to replace monetarily and time-wise from the perspective of developing a well functioning team. When hospitals do not have an adequate number of nurses to provide safe, effective patient care, this has the potential to cause conditions in which the

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