Staff Shortage in Healthcare: Examining the Problem and Evidence - Essay Sample

Introduction

Staff shortage in healthcare facilities is a globally recognized crisis in terms of achieving healthcare effectiveness (Nejat et al., 2016). Though the responsible leaders are aware of the need for certified and qualified health practitioners in the few years to come minimal solution have been made. Thus, this paper will categorically examine why staff shortage as a problem exists in the healthcare facilities as well as the various evidence that exists to support this problem.

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The impending staff shortage in the healthcare facilities has been a major challenge for over a decade now. In the year of 2008, (Nejat et al., 2016) report indicated that several governments were experiencing vacancy rates of up to 20 percent in the health facilities. Notably, the fact sheet indicated the demand for epidemiologist, environmental health professional as well as public health nurses (Nejat et al., 2016). Consequently, the newly published reports have echoed the same trend. The 2018 report by the association of American medical colleges forecasted a shortage of nearly 62 000 for non-primary care specialities and also a shortage of 43000 for primary care physicians (Nejat et al., 2016).

In the health facilities, without qualified nurses, patients cannot receive care. However, recruiting as well as retaining has since become more complicated to a number of governments (Hall et al., 2016). Hence, this has increasingly raised a concern nationwide since these workforce shortages have made providing high quality as well as affordable healthcare to become a big challenge.

Evidently, staffing shortages normally create inconsistent care, stress and burn out as well as several mistakes that can be fatal or long-lasting (Hall et al., 2016). Secondly, having insufficient caregivers creates unbudgeted costs in healthcare, such as premium overtime pay, and massive rates for temporary staffing solutions (Hall et al., 2016).

Conclusion

In a nutshell, staff shortage in healthcare facilities is a globally recognized crisis in terms of achieving healthcare effectiveness. Even though the respective leaders are aware of this challenge, minimal solutions have been directed towards it. A number of reports, for instance, the resent by the association of American medical colleges have stated categorically there exists a shortage of healthcare staff globally. Evidently, staffing shortages normally create inconsistent care, stress and burn out as well as several mistakes that can be fatal or long-lasting. As a result, staff shortage in healthcare facilities needs immediate attention now rather than later.

References

Hall, L. H., Johnson, J., Watt, I., Tsipa, A., & O'Connor, D. B. (2016). Healthcare staff wellbeing, burnout, and patient safety: a systematic review. PloS one, 11(7).

Nejati, A., Rodiek, S., & Shepley, M. (2016). The implications of highquality staff break areas for nurses' health, performance, job satisfaction and retention. Journal of nursing management, 24(4), 512-523.