NURSING SHORTAGE

Nursing Shortage in United States

Nursing Shortage in United States

Introduction

In the year of 2011 we become witnesses to many important events happening around the world. It was a year of Arab Spring, President Obama's Healthcare reform, Illegal Immigrants laws went into effect in some states, and many other newsworthy events have happened. But one of the events which Americans await with fear, retirement of baby boomers, has started on January 1, 2011. According to the 2010 Census, more than 75 million “Baby Boomers” were born in the United States from 1946 to 1964. The oldest members of that generation became eligible for Medicare this year. The entire generation will be 65 or older by 2029 (Hoogterp, 2011). As baby boomers begin to retire the healthcare problem becomes more important, as there is no enough funding available to provide healthcare to baby boomers, also there is a shortage of medical providers to take care of them. One of the providers who will be in critical shortage is nurses. 

In the July/August 2009 Health Affairs, Dr. Peter Buerhaus and coauthors found that despite the current easing of the nursing shortage due to the recession, the U.S. nursing shortage is projected to grow to 260,000 registered nurses by 2025.  A shortage of this magnitude would be twice as large as any nursing shortage experienced in this country since the mid-1960s. In the article titled The Recent Surge in Nurse Employment: Causes and Implications, the researchers point to a rapidly aging workforce as a primary contributor to the projected shortage (Nursing, 2011). The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services(HHS) estimated that the United States was weathering a shortfall of 111,000 full-time-equivalent (FTE) RNs in 2000 and projected that this figure will grow to 275,000 by 2010.That imbalance will nearly triple in the subsequent decade, reaching a shortfall of 800,000 FTE RNs by 2020 (Barbara L. Brush, 2004). Even if the U.S. manages to train more nurses, the federal government estimates there will need to be a 90 percent increase in the number of nurse graduates to meet the demand (NPR, 2007).

Many regions are recognizing the need to make additional funds available to the public and private nursing students. Student loans, grants, scholarships, low-interest government loans, and employer-paid training are just one of many ways individuals can afford a nursing school education. If the program is to accelerate, to enable students to complete the course and to work more quickly, lower the cost of education, the rewards will be greater for students. This situation may lead to the ability, registered nurses greater motivation. It is becoming increasingly evident; there is a large and growing U.S. nursing shortage. It is imperative to take action to avoid a complete collapse of the health care system.

Current Scenario

United States facing many financial troubles, including recession, high rates of unemployment, financial deficit, social security and Medicare face a high increase of retirees with a shortage in funding. Medicare: $24.8 trillion. Obligation per household: $212,500, and Social Security $21.4 trillion. Obligation per household: $183,400 (Cauchon, ...