Nursing Shortage: Presenting the Problem Paper Example

Our team identified nursing shortage as the problem that needed to be resolved. The nursing shortage is described as a scenario whereby demand for qualified nurses exceeds the supply. Resolving this problem was challenging mainly because of a wide variation in the nurse to patient ratio. That is, nurses already in practice are fewer than the number of patients seeking medical care in the hospitals.

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We were in a group of four comprising three of my peers and I. in addressing the problem, we used a creative problem-solving approach. This involved identifying and explaining the problem, examining the causes, exploring different ways of resolving it, and finally settling on one best resolution. During problem identification, our main task was to distinguish between the actual and desired situation. The actual situation was the current one where nurses are too few compared to the patients, which is a high nurse to patient ratio. The desired situation was a low nurse to patient ratio characterized by high effectiveness in care delivery and good healthcare outcomes. We then defined the problem or this disparity between the actual and desired situation as the nursing shortage. After identifying and defining the problem, the next stage was examining the causes. To identify the causes of the nursing shortage, we had to review existing literature. According to Haddad and Toney-Butler (2018), common causes of nursing shortage include an aging population (which increases the need for healthcare services), aging workforce, nurse burnout, career and family (most nurses are female and a shortage occurs when they are on maternity leave), and violence in healthcare settings.

Having identified these causes, we looked into possible solutions for each cause. The proposed solutions included improving ways of recruitment of nurses and keeping in touch with them, enhancing retention through decentralization of managerial system and creating flexible employment opportunities as well as keeping professional development paths open for working nurses. For example, working nurses should be allowed to continue with their learning for career development by linking them to higher learning institutions and ensuring they have time to undertake part-time learning. Instead of study leaves, healthcare institutions can establish online learning systems that can allow nurses to study while working. Decentralizing management and providing flexible employment opportunities all create a friendly working environment for the nurses and help reduce burnout which is perhaps a significant cause of the nursing shortage.

Presentation of the proposed solutions was a crucial step and we had to take a thoughtful process. First, we began by stating the problem. Stating the problem was important because we had to let the audience understand why the issue at hand was worth their attention. On stating the problem, we demonstrated negative consequences that may arise from the nursing shortage to show how important the problem was with regard to the delivery of healthcare. We then explained how we discovered the solution to the issue and forged ahead to show the way out. The audience comprised medical practitioners and administrators drawn from several hospitals who had experienced the problem and keen on new solutions and efforts to resolve the problem.

Conclusion

The entire process of identifying the problem, designing and presenting solutions was engaging and assisted us in developing analytical and critical thinking skills. The experience was full of learning opportunities since we were dealing with a real-world problem.

References

Haddad, L. M., & Toney-Butler, T. J. (2018). Nursing Shortage. StatPearls Publishing.