Technical Information Report: Sequence of Events in Nursing Shortage

This report provides a detailed overview of the nursing shortage in the United States, starting from the 1990s, and examines the sequence of events that led to this crisis. It highlights the impact of technological advancements, health issues, and economic changes on the demand for registered nurses. The report discusses the challenges faced by nurses, including long working hours, low pay, and stressful working conditions, and explores how these factors have contributed to the shortage. Furthermore, it addresses the consequences of understaffing on patient care, including medical errors and the need for shorter patient stays. The report also examines the techniques used in technical writing, such as shorter sentences and descriptive details, to enhance clarity and understanding for a diverse audience, including non-specialists. The report concludes by referencing several studies and research papers that support the information presented, providing a comprehensive analysis of the nursing shortage and its implications for the US healthcare system.

Running Head: ARTICULATE TECHNICAL INFORMATION
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Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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Sequence of events That Led to the Nursing Shortage in United States
Nursing staff shortage started since 1990s in the USA, at the time when use of registered nurses
began. A number of events like a change in technology, health issues and economic changes
together caused a higher demand for registered nurses and consequently a shortage of them,
(Zinn et al., 2012). During this time the healthcare system in US was reshaping due to changes
in technology: changes like start of inpatients required nurses to give ward services to patients.
Also demand for nurses to serve in the military in nursing soldiers was on arise, therefore
depriving public hospitals for civilians further more nurses. These nurses were anticipated to
come back and serve in civilian facilities soon after military activities, but it was not the case.
The situation forced hospitals to start training nurses to cater for the shortage, (Munier &
Porter, 2014). At the time the few nurses who were available were working for longer time, at a
low payment and stressing working conditions. Moreover it was recommended nurses to stay at
the hospital premises, this further made more nurses to opt to work in other sectors.
Shorter sentences and paragraphs
It is a simple technique used to reduce the length of the sentences in a paragraph to enhance the
quality of the information given. The technical discussion becomes easier to understand when
there are short informative sentences than long sentences that can confuse the reader. In the
paragraph above, similar style has been utilized, which is useful for a technical English paper. It
explains about the sequence of events that led to the shortage of nurses in the US healthcare
system, which can become long, repetitive and difficult to understand for the reader. This is the
reason why this style of writing has been used for this topic. The shorter sentences used are
easier to understand the events that led to the shortage of nurses. It is explained in detail in a
short paragraph, which makes it more appealing to read and makes the reader feel more

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interested towards the topic. A technical English writer should use such methods in a scientific
paper so that it does not get disinteresting and tiring for the reader (Brussee et al., 2015).
Introduction to problem
The number of nursing staff to patient population has been a challenge for several years in the
USA. The consistent increasing need for nurses against the high number of patients has pushed
them to commit medical errors due to exhaustion. Nurses are forced to use a short period in a
single patient because of the pressure put on them by an overwhelming number of patients.
Other issues like forgetting to document crucial information about a patient have also risen.
(Purcell et al., 2011). An example is nurses from California for thirteen years now, they have
been vocal in the fight for an adequate nurse-patient ratio until recently measures were put up to
address their concerns. It has been also proposed that the problem is not only the nursing staff
shortage, but also how hospitals have been planning their schedules have aggravated this issue,
(Lake et al., 2016). In attempt to control organization cost and wages, healthcare facilities have
sought to downscale their nursing staff to profitable ranges as possible. For this reasons health
institutions can work at a minimum cost regardless of nurse staff to patient population.
However, as health facilities race to adopt this strategy by embracing understaffing, it has a
direct negative consequence on quality of patient care. Both the patient and the individual nurse
are exposed to the risks of this nurse staffing issue. Healthcare institutions and Insurance
organizations are advocating for the need to have shorter hospital stays. To remain aggressive
in terms of service delivery, they have started rendering service of greater delicacy to patients.
(Sink et al., 2010).

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Providing descriptive detail
This is one of the technique in which the writer uses descriptive details for the reader to
understand the whole concept properly. This paragraph in the paper has given full explanation
about the problem of the topic and how the shortage of staff is affecting the US healthcare
system. The readers who are non-specialist find such techniques more concrete and humble
because it is easy for them to understand. Many readers are not able to understand the
complexity in a scientific research paper due to their expertise or lack of knowledge in the
particular area. This is a useful technique for such readers because it makes them understand in a
descriptive manner. Sometimes, readers do not like to read short and complex sentences because
it raises queries and this is not a favorable situation for a technical writer. They have to make
every reader understand their paper in detail. The paragraph above gives a detailed description
about problem of nursing staff shortage in the hospitals of USA and it is self-explanatory, which
is an advantage for the reader (Datchuk & Kubina, 2017).

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References
Brussee, T., van Nispen, R. M., Klerkx, E. M., Knol, D. L., & van Rens, G. H. (2015).
Comparison of reading performance tests concerning difficulty of sentences and
paragraphs and their reliability. Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics, 35(3), 324-335.
Datchuk, S. M., & Kubina Jr, R. M. (2017). A writing intervention to teach simple sentences and
descriptive paragraphs to adolescents with writing difficulties. Education and Treatment
of Children, 40(3), 303-326.