Nursing Issues: Causes, Effects and Strategies to Overcome

Running head: NURSING ISSUES
NURSING ISSUES
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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NURSING ISSUES
Introduction:
Nursing shortage can be defined as the situation where there are increased demands in the
nursing services but there is lack of nursing professionals in the organizations to provide the
services. This can be measured in a number of forms that are the nurse to patient ratio, nurse to
population ratio as well as the number of job openings for the post of nursing professionals
(Jacob et al., 2015). This situation is not only observed in the developing countries but in many
developed countries as well and Australia has not been different. This assignment will mainly be
based on the issues of nursing shortage in the nation (Whitehall & Myers, 2016). The assignment
will also highlight the various points that results in contribution to the nursing shortage issues in
the nation. It will also discuss about the various negative outcomes of the nursing shortage and
will recommend various strategies that professionals can take in order to overcome such issues
on the organization. The similar issue has been discussed in the policy named Australia’s Future
Health Workforce – Nurses that had been put forward by the commonwealth of Australia.
Discussion:
Present condition in the nation:
Researchers are of the opinion that skill shortage can occur when there is a mismatch
between the available staffs as well as the needs of the industry. This has the capability of
creating problem in the economy in the nation of the Australia and this might affect the quality
of the life for the Australians (Buchan et al., 2015). The aging population that is living longer
with different types of complex problems is mainly driving the nursing shortage in the nation.
The present generation has shown a remarkable achievement in the medical field and this had
helped the healthcare organizations to save huge number of lives from different disorders that

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NURSING ISSUES
could not be treated successfully before. Therefore, life expectancy had increased and therefore
the aging population has increased as well. However, although they are living for longer days,
but they are not enjoying quality of lives mainly due to the chronic disorders they are
developing. The aging population is living with co-morbid disorders and hence this population
requires healthcare services to manage the disorders effectively. However, with the growing
demands of the nursing healthcare services, the number of nursing professionals had not
increased. This had resulted in a nursing shortage, as the present numbers of nurses are not
enough to provide quality and safe care to all the patients demanding healthcare services.
Statistics:
In the year 2012, there were over a quarter of a million registered nurses for about
273404 and almost 60000 enrolled nurses in the nation. At that particular time, a report on the
nursing workforce sustainability was undertaken by the health workforce confirmed population
health trends when combined with the ageing nursing workforce would ultimately lead to the
nursing shortage in the nation. The areas of the nursing that are at more risks for facing the
nursing shortage are the mental healthcare departments and the aged care services (Zhu, Rodgers
& Melia, 2015). Statistics have stated that the future healthcare can be predicted of involving
greater health promotion, chronic disorder monitoring as well as management and care for hype
older people who have the complex needs. Therefore, nursing shortage would result in huge
issues which will have terrible impact on the health of the citizens and as well as the economy
and social stability of the nation. Research has shown that every 110 healthcare professionals
who would be retiring in the nation, only 84 qualified people will be seen to be joining the
healthcare industry (Wang, 2016). However, the researchers are not completely negative about
the situation in the nation. They are of the opinion that improvement in the retention rates and

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assumed slower economic growth are predicting the reduction in the nursing shortage in the
nation raising to about 29000 by the year 2025 or 45000 by the year 2030. Australia is seen to
require nurses now more than ever and therefore, proper strategies are to be taken to ensure best
health of the citizens of the nation.
Impact of low nurse-patient ratio: mortality and medication errors
Lack of nursing professionals in the healthcare organizations mean that lower number of
nurses is attending higher number of patients and therefore the nurse patient ratio can be stated to
be quite low than what is expected in the healthcare units. Studies have suggested that low nurse
patient ratio affect the patient care in many different ways (Sutcliff & Dhakal, 2018). It results in
higher mortality rates where the study has found an increase o one full time nurse per 1000
patients have the capability of decreasing the mortality of the patient by 4.3%. The study had
also revealed that when the hospital has below target registered-nursing staffing levels in the
intensive care unit, there would be increase in the mortality rates by 2 to 7%. For the patients
who are not in the ICU, there will be also an increase in the mortality rates of 12% for the below
target nursing staffing levels. Low nurse to patient ratio is also seen to be associated with the
increased number of medication errors while caring for the patients. Different types of
medication errors that had been associated with poor nurse patient ratio are wrong infusion rate
about 33.3%, admission of two doses of medicine in place of one accounting for about 23.8%
(Buchan et al., 2015). medication errors due to poor nurse patient ratio also contributes to
omission of medicine accounting for about 14.2% omission of the medicine, mistaken
medication accounting for about 11.9% and giving medication of patient to another patient
accounting for about 9.5%.