Nursing Shortages in the United States

Nursing Shortages in the United States

If the United States of America published a nationwide series of want ads, one of the top two ads we would all see would read, “Nursing professionals needed! Now!” The other one would probably be an ad seeking honest politicians and accurate weathermen.

The fact is that there has been a serious shortage of nursing professionals in this country for many years, and the problem is only going to get worse in the coming years. The United States population is getting grayer by the minute, as the entire baby boom population gradually settles into its retirement years. All of those new senior citizens are showing up at the retirement gate with a host of age-related ailments, all of which require medical treatment. To further aggravate the shortage, nearly a third of the current nursing population is slated to retire over the next several years – not only increasing the number of seniors needing care, but drastically reducing the number of nurses available to provide that care.

In addition to the aging of the American population, there has also been a dramatic increase in the overall population of the United States, which now stands at around 300 million people. That number would not in and of itself pose a threat to the health care industry’s ability to provide competent care for the people of the country, but when taken in conjunction with the decrease in nursing school students, it is easy to see that the trend is not a favorable one.

To complicate matters even further, advancements in medical technology and a corresponding complexity in nursing techniques has resulted in a need for even greater specialization in the nursing industry. In other words, just addressing the problem by calling for a massive influx of new nurses is not enough – to adequately meet the shortage and address the impending health care disaster, this country needs not only new nurses but nurses with very specific skill sets.

However, the resulting shortage of nearly a quarter of a million nurses by the end of this decade poses not only a challenge for the health care industry, but an opportunity for anyone interested in pursuing a career in the nursing field. Many of the most specialized types of nursing are also among the most highly-compensated, offering salaries and benefits that should attract growing numbers of young aspiring nurses. The key to achieving the kinds of targets necessary to overcome the shortages is to effectively recruit the best and the brightest students right out of high school.

Fortunately, the health care industry is taking it upon itself to address its nursing shortage, through a combination of aggressive recruitment techniques, and hospital-sponsored educational opportunities. These efforts, in combination with the High Growth Job Training Initiative launched by the previous President in 2005, are already beginning to have an impact on the number of new nursing students. And with continuing efforts to offer educational accreditation to many older nurses – allowing them to be ready to train the new nursing recruits – there is a strong likelihood that the shortage can be compensated for before it becomes an irreversible crisis.

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