Tequora T.

Benefield

November 1, 2022

James Madison University

Staffing Shortages in Nursing

 Healthcare facing a shortage of nurses has been a topic of discussion long before

becoming a nurse in 2021. During the completion of the Associates of Nursing Degree Program

(ADN), it was always said that within the next few years, nursing would experience a large

exodus and have a ton of vacancies to fill due to older nurses reaching retirement. “Over one

million nurses are expected to retire in the next ten to fifteen years”. (Ackerson 2018) While age

will likely always play a factor in the shortage of nurses, the healthcare world has seen and been

greatly affected by an unexpected shortage following the pandemic of the Coronavirus (Covid-

19).

As a new graduate emergency room (ER) nurse, this staffing shortage has affected my

experience a great deal. Our department lost a lot of experienced nurses, and we soon saw these

vacancies filled with an influx of travel nurses. This proved to be a huge challenge for me as I

had to endure six months of new graduate orientation with over twenty different preceptors. As

one could image, twenty different people having their hands in your foundation to becoming a

nurse can be scary and overwhelming to say the least. Most days felt like having to start from the

beginning. With each new preceptor, ultimately having to prove myself, my skills, and ability to

care for patients all over again. Remaining optimistic, I do believe I was fortunate and there was

some good that came from having multiple preceptors. I was able to gain a lot of knowledge

from each individual preceptor as they all came with their own unique experiences and advice.

From this, I was able to decide what practices did and did not work for me in order to create my

own unique style of caring for patients.

My department saw such a high turnover rate mostly due to the Covid-19 crisis contracts

for travel nursing. These assignments were very high paying which caught the attention of the

experienced nurses who for a long time have been feeling as if nursing has been a field that does
not adequately pay its staff. Because of this high turnover, the department began offering more

money towards incentive pay. The issue with this was in order to receive the extra money each

shift, nurses would be required to work their full or part time hourly requirements first. Any

incentive pay would mean picking up additional shifts. According to Gartley, throughout the

pandemic, “Organizations increased wages and offered bonuses or incentives to retain nurses”.

(Gartley 2021)

Fair wages appear to be one of the main focuses of organizations in hopes to retain their

staff, new and experienced. Compensation is a good place to start but is not the only area that

needs improvement towards retaining staff. Unsafe nurse to patient ratios also contributes to

loosing staff. This is a double edge sword. Nurses are expected to pick up the additional

workload that is a direct result from being understaffed, which leads to burnout and then

ultimately nurses leaving all together, thus creating a bigger shortage. Ethics is then brought into

the equation as well. Having to make the decision between caring for yourself or the patient, and

if you will be able to provide true, quality care in the presence of struggling with an increased

workload and job dissatisfaction. Provision five of the nursing code of ethics states that “The

nurse owes the same duties to self as to others, including the responsibility to promote health and

safety.” (Dellasega 2021)

To conclude, healthcare organizations should continue to focus on the key areas such as

fair compensation and safer nurse to patient ratios in an effort to decrease the high level of

nursing turnover rates. Creating bonus and incentive programs is a good start towards retention

of new and experienced staff. While it is our responsibility as nurses to continue showing up for

our patients, we must also do the same for ourselves. If we struggle to take care of self, it creates

more challenges for practicing ethically.

 References

Ackerson, K., & Stiles, K. A. (2018). Value of nurse residency programs in retaining new
graduate nurses and their potential effect on the nursing shortage. The Journal of
Continuing Education in Nursing, 49(6), 282–288. https://doi.org/10.3928/00220124-
20180517-09

Dellasega, C., & Kanaskie, M. L. (2021). Nursing ethics in an era of pandemic. Applied Nursing
Research, 62, 151508. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnr.2021.151508

Gartley, C. E. (2022, February 10). Retaining nurses to mitigate shortages. American Nurse.
Retrieved November 5, 2022, from https://www.myamericannurse.com/beyond-the-
pandemic-retaining-nurses-to-mitigate-shortages/