The Interconnection between Staffing Crisis for Nurses and the Supply of Mental Health Care

Running head: STAFFING CRISIS FOR NURSES 1
The Interconnection between Staffing Crisis for Nurses and the Supply of Mental Health
Care
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STAFFING CRISIS FOR NURSES 2
1. Introduction
Mental health is the level at which an individual is psychologically well off or lack of any
mental disease (Galderisi, Heinz, Kastrup, Beezhold, & Sartorius, 2015). It is a great aspect of
peoples' lives because it is the main contributor towards an individual’s overall health.
Worldwide, there is a great discrepancy between the demand for mental health care and its
supply. The prevalence of mentally ill people in many nations and those requiring specialized
mental health care is high. On the contrary, only less than half of these individuals are able to
receive the care that they require. Consequently, the cases of permanent brain damage have
increased greatly. Such people are also usually at higher risks of suffering from other health
conditions. As a result, the quality of life of individuals having mental illnesses is usually
reduced greatly. The effect of the lack of sufficient mental health care is also felt at the societal
level. There are various reasons that bring about the discrepancy between demand and supply of
mental health care (Brenman, Luitel, Mall, Mall, & Jordans, 2014). Lack of sufficient nursing
staff in mental health facilities is one such factor. This report, therefore, seeks to address the
issue of staffing crisis amongst nurses, impacts of the issue to various parties, an approach
available for the problem and the changes that could be implemented to improve the issue. The
report is addressed to the government, for it is the supreme authority with immediate power to
intervene in the issue.
2. Description of the issue
Staffing crisis for nurses also commonly referred to as nursing shortage is described as the
situation at which the supply of nursing professionals is exceeded by its demand in healthcare
facilities either at local, national or even global level. The common points of measurement to
determine the shortage include; nurse to population ratio, nurse to patient ratio, or the total

STAFFING CRISIS FOR NURSES 3
number of job openings (Haddad & Toney-Butler, 2018). When all the aforementioned indicate
that more nurses are needed than the currently available ones, then a shortage is said to exist.
This is a common scenario around the globe more so in developed and developing countries,
which always capture the attention of the entire world. It is, however, worth noting that the low
supply of trained nurses is not necessarily the cause of nurses' shortage. There have been various
instances in many nations where shortages have occurred simultaneously with a high rate of
admission of learners into nursing training centers, which is highly contradicting. A global
estimate of 4.3 million nurses is the reported shortage emanating from the World Health
Organization (World Health Organization, 2017). WHO attributes this high figures to low
investment in; training, working environment, management, wages and education of health
workers by various nations. In Australia, a shortage of approximately eighty-five thousand
nurses by 2025 and the number set to rise to one hundred and twenty-three by 2030 is forecasted
by the Department of Health. Subsequently, the mentioned shortages affect the supply of mental
health care adversely. This is due to lack of nurses to administer the required care.
3. Key contributors to the issue
a. An Aging Registered Nurses Workforce.
It is a bitter fact that only a few numbers of the younger population are entering into the
nursing profession. Subsequently, the average age of nurses who are in practice is continuously
rising. Recent reports indicate that 45.2 is the average age of nurses currently. It, therefore, goes
without saying that the number of new nurses to replace the aging ones are not enough (Russell,
2016). Additionally, those available cannot match the quality, experience, competence, and skills
level of the aging nurses. With nursing being considered as an occupation mainly for women,
expansion of career opportunities have impacted the number of women entering in the field.

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Women have ventured into other careers they consider more paying and interesting than nursing.
Aging RNs are also more susceptible to feet, neck and back injuries. Subsequently, they are
constantly on sick leaves and thus contributing to a huge demand-supply gap in the provision of
mental health care.
b. Aging of Baby Boomers
The aging and subsequent retirement of people born after the end of World War II is
another reason attributed to the shortage of nurses. In the years that followed after the 1940s,
more than seventy million children (baby boomers) were born worldwide (BRADLEY
UNIVERSITY, 2016). There is a direct proportional relationship between age and demand for
mental health care. With the baby boomers advancing in age, a significant number of them
develop mental health problems that calls for medical attention. The main factors that make the
demand of mental health care among the elderly rise are work related stress, depressions, as well
as various life encounters that could have led to deterioration of mental health. Nurses’ shortage
comes into existence when the number of baby boomers requiring mental health care increases
but there is no proportional increase in the number of nurses in mental health facilities (LeRouge,
et al., 2014).
c. Nurses recruitment and retention challenges.
Often used as an indicator of retention or recruitment problem is the rate of job turnover.
The inadequacy of recruitment and retention policies of mental health care workers demonstrates
the shortage symptom (Stilwell, Dolea, & Zurn, 2005). The severity of shortages varies in
various nations across the globe with the African region being the worst hit. The magnitude of
shortages can be assessed using a variety of factors that are directly related to recruitment and