The role of nurses is crucial in a health institution setting. They primarily take instructions from physicians to handle a given condition or case of a patient who has been hospitalized. Besides, nurses play a crucial role in offering moral support to patients in a health institution. Therefore, they should be well treated, and their remuneration must be prompt to ensure that they remain motivated when dealing with delicate issues that majorly characterize health institutions. While executing their duties, nurses are susceptible to health risks, for instance, infectious diseases, among other hazards common in health institutions. This reflection, therefore, examines various issues that face nurses with a specific focus on their challenges, their shortages in health institution, and how legislators can help avert the nursing shortages across health institutions in this nation.
Events that Led to the Nursing Shortage
In the previous years, the health sector has been operating well due to the presence of enough health officers including nurses. However, the increased population and the establishment of many health institutions have witnessed a drop in the number of nurses in every health institution. The change in this number has also seen the nurse-patient ratio decline significantly. Apart from the increase in population, several other factors have led to the nursing shortage in this country (Buerhaus et al., 2017). The shortage of nurses is attributable to poor remuneration in the nursing sector. The government has not offered nurses enough money to motivate them. As a result, many potential nurses have opted to quit this industry in the search for greener pastures outside the health sector. Nursing is one of the toughest occupations since it entails dealing with vulnerable persons who need adequate care. Besides, it calls for keenness to avoid contracting some communicable diseases. These working conditions require proper payment as a way of motivation (Buerhaus et al., 2017).
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The nursing shortage is also attributable to the high rate of nurses leaving for other nations whose health sector offers better pay. Countries like Canada, Australia, China, the United Kingdom, and Norway provide better pay to nurses, and this has led to an exodus of nursing experts who look out for better compensation for their services in some of these countries. Consequently, the country has plunged into a nursing crisis, which is likely to hurt the economy if no proper measures to salvage the health situation are put in place.
This country has few facilities and institutions that train nurses. Most schools and colleges have focused on business and engineering related courses while ignoring nursing. Therefore, a small number of nurses are released to the country by colleges. This trend has massively contributed to the shortage of nurses in our health institutions. The few who qualified nurses ask for high salaries that the country's health department cannot afford.
Addressing the Nursing Shortage
For the country’s health aspect to stay afloat, the nursing crisis should be solved as soon as possible. If ignored, the country is likely to suffer from deaths and severe disease outbreaks that may adversely affect the economy. The shortage must be addressed by following these strategies. First, the government should pump enough funds in the health sector when making the budget. These funds will help clean up the mess in the health sector. For instance, the presence of funds will enable the health department to offer proper remunerations that motivate nurses in this country. Nurses require better payment for their services, which are not only strenuous but also risky. Appropriate compensation of nurses means improving their net salary, doubling their risk allowances, providing an adequate housing allowance, and offering them a comprehensive health insurance cover (Abhicharttibutra et al., 2016).
Adequate funds in the health sector will see most medical and nursing schools get established in most parts of this country. The establishment of nursing schools plays a critical role in increasing the number of nurses. These schools should be well equipped with modern nursing and medical equipment that enable students to learn modern ways of nursing. Also, these institutions should have well-trained teachers who offer both theory and practical lessons to ensure that learners get the best knowledge and skills of dealing with patients. The tutors in these institutions should also be well remunerated to motivate them to offer their lessons effectively (Abhicharttibutra et al., 2016).
The nursing shortage can also be rectified by making this career lucrative and prestigious. As highlighted, many nurses are fleeing to other nations in search of better pay and working conditions. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the government to lay down strategies of motivating nurses. In essence, it should come up with pay perks that will see more nurses and other health experts come to the country due to better remunerations and proper working conditions in our health institutions.
Proper management of health institutions can also help solve the nurses’ shortage in the health sector. Just like other organization, health institutions should properly manage their staff members who are mostly nurses (Abhicharttibutra et al., 2016). The management should come up with viable ways of keeping their employees motivated. For example, the management should have a working schedule where nurses work for a short time before they are relieved off their duties. The shift system will see many nurses avoid cases of burnout, which comes as a result of nurses spending long hours at their places of work. The management should involve nurses in decision making. Nurses are the key stakeholders in the health institution since most of their activities directly influence the operations of the health sector. Besides, they understand the needs of patients in a given health institution. Therefore, their insights are necessary when the management is making decisions on the operations of the health institutions. When involved in such processes, the nurses feel a part of the institution, and they automatically get motivated.
My Role in a Nursing Shortage Crisis
It is my wish that the current nursing shortage crisis will be solved and proper measures put in place to avert a similar situation in the future. However, in case it repeats, I will ensure that my support and help is felt across the health sector. There are several things that I will do whenever in such a crisis. For example, I will ensure that I give my best in the nursing sector by championing for the betterment of nurses’ welfare. In any case, the crisis of nurses is attributable to their grievances, which are not yet adequately addressed by the government (Buerhaus et al., 2017).
As a nurse in a crisis, I will try to offer the best services to the patients that I am deployed to help. Most of these patients are helpless, and if abandoned, they are likely to succumb to their ailments. Therefore, as a nurse in a crisis, I will stretch myself to see that patients receive adequate care. I will also encourage my colleagues to offer better services to patients despite the crisis setbacks. In any case, nursing is not just a career but a calling to save a life. As a gesture of solidarity, I will participate in campaigns that promote better remunerations and working conditions in the nursing sector. The nursing sector has many challenges, and thus there is a need to offer better pay to motivate them. Given a chance to engage in agitating for these provisions, I will not hesitate to join them.
Role of Legislature in Safe Staffing
The level of vulnerability of patients in a health institution is quite high. Therefore, it is prudent that they get adequate care whether in a nursing crisis or not. In this regard, the legislature should play its role to safeguard patients in health institutions during the staffing crisis. To meet these requirements, the legislative arm of the government should make laws that require available nurses to remain at their places of work for extra hours to cover for the shortage. However, the government should offer hefty pay for this sacrifice (Glazer, November 14, 2008).
The legislature should also establish laws that favor the health sector by according health departments adequate funding that will help to deal with the shortage of nurses. This arm of the government should also establish laws that advocate for the rampant establishment of nursing schools and colleges to help increase the number of nursing experts in the country. Besides, the legislature should formulate rules that allow the government to employ foreign nurses during the nursing shortage crisis (Glazer, November 14, 2008).
Conclusion
The reality of the shortage of nurses is apparent in the country. Patients are suffering since they cannot access the necessary care offered by nurses. The shortage of nurses also makes most processes in health institutions stall. As a result, there is a need for the government to implement the measures highlighted in this reflection in a bid to rescue the ailing health sector. The government should also prioritize proper remuneration and provision of good working conditions. Besides, health institutions should manage nurses effectively to motivate them. The legislature must set laws that will regulate the health sector by enforcing the improvement of nurses’ welfare.
References
Abhicharttibutra, K., Kunaviktikul, W., Turale, S., Wichaikhum, O., & Srisuphan, W. (2016). Analysis of a government policy to address nursing shortage and nursing education quality. International Nursing Review , 64 (1), 22-32. doi:10.1111/inr.12257
Buerhaus, P. I., Skinner, L. E., Auerbach, D. I., & Staiger, D. O. (2017). Four challenges facing the nursing workforce in the United States. Journal of Nursing Regulation , 8 (2), 40-46. doi:10.1016/s2155-8256(17)30097-2
Glazer, G., Alexandre, C. (November 14, 2008) Legislative: "The nursing shortage: A public health issue for all" OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing . Vol. 14 No. 1.
