A nursing shortage occurs when the demand for nursing professionals, such as registered nurses (RNs), exceeds the supply locally—within a healthcare facility—nationally or globally. It can be measured, for instance, when the nurse-to-patient ratio, the nurse-to-population ratio, the number of job openings necessitates a higher number of nurses than currently available, or the current number of nurses is above a certain age where retirement becomes an option and plays a factor in staffing making the workforce in a higher need of nurses. The nursing shortage is global according to 2022 World Health Organization fact sheet. The nursing shortage is not necessarily due to the lack of trained nurses. In some cases, the scarcity occurs simultaneously with increased admission rates of students into nursing schools. Potential factors include lack of adequate staffing ratios, lack of placement programs for newly trained nurses, inadequate worker retention incentives and inability for students to complete schooling in general. This issue can continue further into the workforce with veteran workers as well as burnout in the healthcare field is one of the largest reasons for the nursing shortage in the U.S. today. The lack of nurses overall though can play a role in the shortages across the world today. As of 2006, the WHO estimated a global shortage of almost 4.3 million nurses, physicians and other health human resources worldwide—reported to be the result of decades of underinvestment in health worker education, training, wages, working environment and management. These will continue to be reoccurring issues if not disentangled now. A study in 2009 by Emergency Nurse has predicted that there will be a shortage of 260,000 registered nurses by the year 2025. A 2020 World Health Organization report urged governments and all relevant stakeholders to create at least 6 million new nursing jobs by 2030, primarily in low- and middle-income countries, to off set the projected shortages and redress the inequitable distribution of nurses across the world. While the nursing shortage is most acute in countries in South East Asia and Africa, it is global, according to 2022 World Health Organization fact sheet. The shortage extends to the global health workforce in general, which represents an estimated 27 million people. Nurses and midwives represent about 50% of the health workforce globally.
2022 overview A March 2022 WHO fact sheet reported that about 50% of the global health workforce was experiencing a global shortage. Of the 27 million people who make up that workforce, approximately 50% are nurses and midwives. This is most acute in countries in South East Asia and Africa.
Causes Nursing shortage is an issue in many countries. To interpret the problem, psychological studies have been completed to ascertain how nurses feel about their career in the hope that they can determine what is preventing some nurses from keeping the profession as a long-term career. In a study completed by sociologist Bryan Turner, the study found that the most common nursing complaints were:
subordination to the medical profession on all matters, even over standardized regulations difficult working conditions A report from the Commonwealth of Australia identified a few other matters that led to nurse dissatisfaction:
constant schedule changes work overloads due to high number of patients and paperwork, according to a 2002 journal article; shift work lack of appreciation by superiors lack of provided childcare inadequate pay lack of interest to join the field in countries with inadequate pay, according to a 2020 "systematic review and meta-analysis"; Another study found that nurse dissatisfaction stemmed from:
conflicting expectations from nurses and managers due to regulation of cost inability to provide comprehensive nursing care due to work loss of confidence in the health care system, based on a 2014 Russian non-academic paper. A couple articles mention how nursing burnout could happen from the demand of being compliant with the technology used in the healthcare setting:
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