Running head: SHORT STAFFING NURSES 1

Short Staffing Nurses: A Major Contemporary Issue in the Medical Field

Emily M. Helm

James Madison University

NSG 462 Issues in Contemporary Nursing Practice

Dr. Nena Powell

November 10, 2018

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Abstract

Nurse short staffing is becoming a major growing issue in the healthcare field and is becoming

more noticeable with the baby-boomer generation increasing and putting a growing demand on

the need for nurses. Short staffing of nurses proves to be harmful to patients, with an increasing

risk of readmissions, medications errors, and patient neglect. It also proves to be harmful to

nurses. With the supply of nurses not meeting the demand, nurses are forced to take on more

patients than what may be deemed safe. In return, nurses are getting burned out, causing more

medical errors incidentally, and are leaving the profession prematurely. To add to this major

contemporary issue, nursing schools have set limits on students accepted, and hospitals are trying

to cut corners to save money by assigning nurses more patients. Unsafe and unacceptable, the

short staffing of nurses must be solved for future generations to receive better healthcare, and for

future nurses to receive careers they are proud of and not result in burnout.
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Short Staffing Nurses: A Major Contemporary Issue in the Medical Field

As a new up and coming nurse, I have already seen short staffing of nurses first hand.

Only spending six months so far on an intermediate cardiac unit in the hospital, I have seen many

nurses move on somewhere else and many new faces arrive. This is of growing concern not only

in my place of employment but also nationwide. Short staffing nurses is a major contributor to

nurse burnout, poor retention rates of staff, and poor patient care. Finding a solution to this

contemporary issue is vital for our healthcare system in this country and also for nurses

nationwide to feel satisfied with their work life.

Nurse shortage has been an issue for many years that gets swept under the rug. To solve

the problem, we must first address it.

“The shortage of nurses is an unquestioned occurrence, and with an increasing need for

health care due to the aging baby boomer generation, this issue seems to be increasing in

severity. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the shortage of nurses is

not new and has been ongoing in many countries for at least the past decade.

Accentuating the issue of the nursing shortage is the high rate of nursing turnover. The

tendency of nurses to leave their jobs are often correlated to unsurmountable workload

and stress. Such outcomes are a result of the nurse shortage and are direct causes of the

phenomenon known as nurse burnout” (McKechnie, 2016).

Effect on Patients

Nurses nationwide are doing the best they can to make sure their patients’ needs are met.

However, when a nurse to patient ratio becomes so high that medications are continuously late,

important procedures aren’t being performed, and call bells aren’t being answered; it becomes a

larger problem. Feeling defeated or like you can’t keep your head above water is a more than
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common feeling for nurses, myself included. With a one to six nurse patient ratio on my step-

down unit, it tends to feel like you can never get ahead. This feeling with new and old nurses on

my unit results in poor retention rates of nurses. Although our patient experiences at my hospital

rank relatively high, nationwide patients and medical errors are increasing do to poor staffing

and nurse shortage. “Inadequate nurse staffing results in increased patient risk of harm; longer

hospital stays; medication errors; injuries; increased durations and types of infections; and even

death” (Brady, 2018).

Health care cannot stand to suffer any further and neither can nurses; the short staffing

epidemic seen nationwide is resulting in poor patient care as well as a negative image for nurses.

Much to many people’s beliefs, although there is a national shortage of nurses and nursing

schools are not able to expand further to accept more students to fill these needs, the main

problem at hand is that hospitals and hospital owned companies are short staffing intentionally to

help cut on costs. “Inadequate staffing might look like a cost saver in the short term but in the

long term it hurts the business. When nurses get so busy and stressed that they get sick it costs

the company more because it has to pay overtime and find relief staff” (Meakin, 2014).

Effect on Nurses

Nursing is a highly respected career that has grown into a leading profession of choice for

many, however, the everyday reality of nurse is still gray matter.

“In the March 2005 issue of Nursing Economics$, Dr. Peter Buerhaus and colleagues

found that more than 75% of RNs believe the nursing shortage presents a major problem

for the quality of their work life, the quality of patient care, and the amount of times

nurses can spend with patients. Looking forward, almost all surveyed nurses see the
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shortage in the future as a catalyst for increasing stress on nurses (98%), lowering patient

care quality (93%) and causing nurses to leave the profession (93%)” (Rosseter, 2017).

Many aren’t aware of short staffing prior to becoming a nurse and therefore their profession can

be short lived because of it, or they push to advance their career to escape the short staffing

taking a toll on them as nurses. I know for me, sadly, this is a reality. I desire to be at the

bedside taking care of patients, but much too often I do not get enough time to take care of my

patients and get my legal documentation done. It results in me staying past an already long

twelve-hour shift to get charting completed just so I can try and spend more time with my

patients. This is not a good solution, but I am left with not very many. Most days I put my

patients first before myself and later realize I haven’t had a single break yet and I only have three

hours left in my shift and I have not eaten. This is an exhausting feeling and many nurses, me

included, don’t feel adequately compensated to put up with the short staffing issues that are

causing us to neglect our needs. “If nurses do not have enough time to take their breaks they

can’t look after themselves and their patients as well as they would like. That eventually takes

its toll on staff health and morale” (Meakin, 2014).

Finding a solution. With the number of nurses in the nation already not being enough to meet

the demand, the least we can do is try and preserve the ones we do have. There are many

solutions to this contemporary issue of short staffing nurses, one of these is by increasing the

number of students wanting to pursue nursing as a career by opening up more available seats

within nursing programs nationwide. Easier said than done but action is already being done.

“Nursing schools are forming strategic partnerships and seeking private support to help expand

student capacity. For example, the University of Minnesota announced a partnership with the
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Minnesota VA Health Care System in June 2013 to expand enrollment in the school’s BSN

program” (Rosseter, 2017).

Another solution to short staffing nurses is by being an advocate for other nurses. Join

boards and committees and stick up for nurses. Make it known to healthcare hospital

organizations such as Sentara, Bon Secour, McKesson Corp., and Anthem just to name a few

that short staffing is not the solution to the problem. If we stand up for what we believe, others

will notice more. Recruiting large companies to advocate for lessening the problem of short

staffing or promote nursing as a career is helpful too. “Since February 2002, Johnson & Johnson

has sustained the Campaign for Nursing’s Future, a multimedia initiative to promote careers in

nursing and polish the image of nursing. This multimillion dollar effort includes television

commercials, a recruitment video, a Web site, brochures, and other visuals” (Rosseter, 2017).

Another solution to this problem of short staffing nurses is by being a team member as a nurse.

Help your fellow coworker nurses when you can, offer opportunities for more breaks, remind

each other not to neglect your own needs in your selfless work of helping others, and pay

compliments where compliments are due. Uplifting one another can be the difference that is

needed for a nurse to say that it is all worth it.

Now that we know what the problem is, and we know some ways to help solve it, we

need to make a difference in nursing. Start by focusing on your self-needs and making sure you

don’t neglect yourself, help a fellow nurse friend when they appear to be drowning in work, and

be a patient advocate. If you feel unsafe accepting a patient assignment, you do have a right to

turn it down. Standing up for yourself and for your patients is the first step in breaking the norm

of “over-worked nurses”. We need to address this major contemporary issue of short staffing

nurses for ourselves, our patients, and for future nurses to come.
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References

Brady, B. (2018). New report shows short staffing plagues state’s hospitals. National Nurse,

114(4), 5. Retrieved from

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9abe-60f09517e0db%40sessionmgr4006

McKechnie, T., (2016). Call for nurses: the multi-dimensional manifestation of nursing shortage

on patient care. QIHI Journal of Healthcare Improvement and Patient Safety, 2.

Retrieved from https://ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/qihi/article/view/6295

Meakin, J. 92014). Short staffing takes its toll. Lamp, 71(10), 19. Retrieved from

https://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=1a4263b2-f9cd-40a1-

96da-9dda06a24a9c%40sdc-v-sessmgr06

Rosseter, R. (2017). Fact sheet: Nursing shortage. American Association of Colleges of Nursing:

The Voice of Academic Nursing. Retrieved from https://www.ic4n.org/wp-

content/uploads/2018/02/Nursing-Shortage-Factsheet-2017.pdf