Hospital Nursing Shortages

Hospital Nursing Shortages

Running head: HOSPITAL NURSING RECRUITMENT

Hospital Nursing Shortages; Recruitment Strategies
University of Phoenix
HCS/ 427

Hospital Nursing Shortages; Recruitment Strategies
The Medical- surgical unit at ABC Hospital is experiencing a critical nursing shortage. Based upon research, this paper will concentrate on a plan developed to deal with the critical health care personnel shortages. For the past ten years, media and statistics have reported the shortage of nurses. One would think that the rise in the economic crises has contributed to the increasing number of nursing and other health care personnel shortages.
Years ago, most little girls wanted to grow up to be nurses so they could take care of people. They expressed their interest by treating their baby dolls, pets and stuffed animals as if they were sick patients. That was during the time that alcohol and band-aids was used for everything. Times have changed and so have the minds of the modernized children.
Nurses all over the country are constantly reporting the ratio of nurses to patient and the inability to provide proper and safe care to patients. Realistically thinking, hospital nursing shortages could be based upon overwhelming workloads. It has been reported that forty percent of hospital nurses have burnout levels that exceed the normal status for health care workers (Aikens et al, 2009).
Hospital nurses dissatisfaction with their jobs has exceeded four times greater than the average amount of all other United States employees. The legislature in California became involved with the massive decrease in the ratio of nurses to patients. Their recommended ratio varied from 3 to 10 patients per nurse. The massive amount of nurse shortages in the medical-surgical unit could put patients at risk of dying or not being rescued or cared for in a timely manner.
It has been predicted that health care shortages may get worse before getting better and grow to more than 1 million nurses by 2020....