affect of nursing shortage on nursing leadership and management, help!

purpletouch · Feb 18, 2012

i know i have posted this in a different forum but i'm trying to get as many helpful feedback as possible

I have a paper due next week on nursing leadership and management

we have to pick a topic and discuss how the topic we pick impacts or affects nursing leadership and management.

the topic i obviously picked is nursing shortage

so what i have so far in my outline is because of the shortage in nursing which are compounded and caused by:

- deficit in nursing program faculties are limiting the number of enrollments

- the rise in the elderly population calls for more nurses to provide health care

- increasing stress levels due to insufficient staffing causing more nurses to leave the workforce.

fewer nurses with leadership and management skills are being produced at the baccalaureate level.

and that's where my problem is. i can't think of anything else. i wanted to state another or probably two more reasons in my paper.

brownbook · Feb 18, 2012

i know i have posted this in a different forum but i'm trying to get as many helpful feedback as possible
I have a paper due next week on nursing leadership and management
we have to pick a topic and discuss how the topic we pick impacts or affects nursing leadership and management.
the topic i obviously picked is nursing shortage
so what i have so far in my outline is because of the shortage in nursing which are compounded and caused by:
- deficit in nursing program faculties are limiting the number of enrollments
- the rise in the elderly population calls for more nurses to provide health care
- increasing stress levels due to insufficient staffing causing more nurses to leave the workforce.
fewer nurses with leadership and management skills are being produced at the baccalaureate level.
and that's where my problem is. i can't think of anything else. i wanted to state another or probably two more reasons in my paper.

I thought there were too many nurses and they couldn't get jobs? What universe are you living in?

Nurses don't like to go into management because it is a big headache, long hours, a lot of responsibilities, and they often make less money than the bedside floor nurse. (They are management they don't get overtime.) They don't like to lose their nursing skills. They were drawn to nursing to help people, not go to meetings, push papers around, appease the big bosses, worry about the bottom line (the budget or profit over patient care and employee pay and benefits.)

purpletouch · Feb 18, 2012

that's what you thought, but statistics show otherwise. you must be the one living in a different universe and never had a leadership nursing course in your nursing program. your comment had nothing to do at all with the question i posted. management and leadership does not solely rest with administrators and high level managers. nurses at the bedside could also practice leadership and management skills.

brownbook · Feb 18, 2012

Thank you for your kind thoughtful reply. You sound like a wonderful intelligent nurse and a great addition to the future of nursing.

You are right I didn't understand your question. I guess the topic is how the nursing shortage affects nursing leadership and management?

As I still think there is a glut of nurses who can't find jobs, it is difficult for me to answer your question.

Editorial Team / Admin · Feb 18, 2012

There isn't a nursing shortage. As evidenced by countless posts on this very board, nurses are having trouble finding jobs whether they are new grads or have years of experience. There are also many, many nurses out there who have decided to stop working because working conditions are poor. We are expected to do more and more with less and less, taking care of sicker and sicker patients. Schools are still churning out new grads at ever increasing rates, adding to the glut of nurses unable to find jobs.

As for why nurses don't go into management? Too frickin' much stress. I used to be in charge of my shift for several years. I was more than happy to give it up and go back to being a regular nurse. And I didn't even have to deal with performance evaluations, disciplinary actions, budgets, long hours without compensation. Some people aren't made to be in management. Some would be great at it but don't want to leave the bedside because they want to take care of patients.

MAISY, RN-ER, BSN, RN · Feb 18, 2012

I know you are in school and they are still preaching about the nursing shortage, but it does not exist in NJ! I know of nurses who can't find work who are experienced much less all of the new graduates who are leaving colleges every semester in search of their "first" nursing job.

In this area, not only are the nurses rushing to complete their BSN (if they already haven't) but they are well into their Graduate Programs for MSN or already have completed MS in Health or some other quick graduate degree. We are stockpiled with BSN nurses. God help anyone who continues to apply for LPN, Diploma, or ASN programs-they can't even get jobs in LTC!

If you'd like some other reasons why a nursing shortage may occur besides the aging RN population, some of these come to mind. Staffing ratios are increasing with nurses dangerously overloaded to the point of breaking or injury. Stress to perform to unrealistic expectations that "we" the public has put on institutions through Hcaps and Press Ganey does not make the job feel "worth it" and at least in the ER makes us truly dislike a lot of patients because of their demands. The Government's pay for performance will create an increasing expectation by management WHICH WILL DEFINITELY cause punitive action to be part of the RN's daily activities (yet non-payment is dependent on care, care is dependent on staffing). Management's failure to realize that while extra staff may initially cost more, prevention of the fall or sentinal event that may occur (and lawsuit) is far less costly.

As you see all of the above is how RN's are undervalued, over-utilized, and beaten until there is no more fight in them or they are physically/mentally damaged beyond compare. This may cause a nursing shortage because no one wants to feel they wasted their time on an education to be dumped on.....that is definitely a reason why nurses are switching careers.

M

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Feb 18, 2012

that's what you thought, but statistics show otherwise. you must be the one living in a different universe and never had a leadership nursing course in your nursing program. your comment had nothing to do at all with the question i posted. management and leadership does not solely rest with administrators and high level managers. nurses at the bedside could also practice leadership and management skills.

the funny thing about statistics are that they can be manipulated to show what ever is wished. here is an employment link. there are some amazing statistics here too.

nurses schools and degrees

more than 700 nursing programs offering bachelor's degree of science in nursing are available in the u.s. an associate's degree or diploma in nursing should also be sufficient to enter this profession. several accelerated courses in nursing, which take about 18 months to complete, are also available. however, these courses are for those who already have a degree and wish to earn quick entry into the profession. at least 56% of nurses had a degree of four or more years. about 43% of workers had some college below a bachelor's degree. an estimated 1% of employees had just a high-school diploma.

nurses by metropolitan area (city and its surroundings)

in the table below, a job density near 0% means the area has an average number of people in this occupation, for its population. a higher or lower job density (e.g., +22% or -45%) tells you there are that many more or fewer workers of that type there than in the average us metro area. so, the higher the number, the more common the occupation. one example.

maryland

[table=width: 100%]

[tr]

city and areamedian salaryemployeesjob density[/tr]

[tr]

[td]baltimore[/td]

[td=align: right]$75,000[/td]

[td=align: right]30,810[/td]

[td=align: right]+19%[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]bethesda[/td]

[td=align: right]$80,000[/td]

[td=align: right]9,460[/td]

[td=align: right]-16%[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]cumberland[/td]

[td=align: right]$55,000[/td]

[td=align: right]1,400[/td]

[td=align: right]+138%[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]hagerstown[/td]

[td=align: right]$60,000[/td]

[td=align: right]1,990[/td]

[td=align: right]+10%[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]salisbury[/td]

[td=align: right]$67,000[/td]

[td=align: right]1,330[/td]

[td=align: right]+47[/td]

[/tr]

[/table]

Nurselacey · Feb 18, 2012

I think that you should research your topic not ask questions on Allnurses...Nursing is all about research and the ability to research and critically think. Just my two cents!

chuckster, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Feb 19, 2012

that's what you thought, but statistics show otherwise. you must be the one living in a different universe and never had a leadership nursing course in your nursing program. your comment had nothing to do at all with the question i posted. management and leadership does not solely rest with administrators and high level managers. nurses at the bedside could also practice leadership and management skills.

i've posted many times on the topic of the nursing "shortage" and would urge you to look through the archives to get some background. i'd also suggest you peruse the bureau of labor statistics (bls) website a bit more closely and look at some the various state labor reporting sites as well as bon sites. you'll find that for nearly every metropolitan area of the country, there is an oversupply of nurses that continues to grow due to increases in nursing school enrollment. while there is a nursing shortage in some scattered smaller metro areas and in some rural areas, the overall numbers of nurses needed are relatively small due to the small populations involved.

the bls recently qualified their previous rosy statement on nursing employment to read "overall job opportunities are expected to be excellent, but may vary by employment and geographic setting; some employers report difficulty in attracting and retaining an adequate number of rns." the first part of the statement is relatively accurate - for experienced nurses, the job market really is fair to excellent, depending on geographic location. the situation is quite different for new grads looking for their first nursing job however, and both unemployment and underemployment rates are well above the 8+% national average. the latter part of the statement is also accurate - for hospitals in parts of the dakotas, rural texas and a few other places. for the more populated parts of the country: ca, ny, ct, ma, fl, md, de nj urban/suburban tx, pa, etc., any nursing shortage ended some years ago.

OCNRN63, RN · Feb 19, 2012

that's what you thought, but statistics show otherwise. you must be the one living in a different universe and never had a leadership nursing course in your nursing program. your comment had nothing to do at all with the question i posted. management and leadership does not solely rest with administrators and high level managers. nurses at the bedside could also practice leadership and management skills.

good way to get people to help you; insult the first person who responded to your post.

i'm sorely tempted to treat you in kind, but i'm betting someone else has already said something far more eloquently than i could.

Flo., BSN, RN · Feb 19, 2012

To reiterate what others have said, there is no nursing shortage. Why not write about nursing burnout,retention rates, safe staffing, JCHAO or HCAPS? Those are issues that effect nursing leadership more than the nonexistent nursing shortage.