The nursing shortage in some ways benefits nurses, because it means that nurses are highly sought after by employers, but it can be hugely stressful for them as well.
When hospitals can’t hire enough nurses, the nurses that they do have end up working a lot of overtime, which is physically exhausting. Who do you want to care for you - an exhausted stressed-out nurse or a well-rested nurse?
A study by the American Organization of Nurse Executives and Nurseweek Publishing shows that 93 percent of nurses surveyed feel that the lack of time that they are able to spend with patients is a major problem, and that this problem is caused by the nursing shortage.
Hopefully our legislature will start providing more funding to hire nursing teachers. If nursing teachers were better paid, more nurses would choose to be teachers, which would mean nursing schools could finally start serving enough students to address the nursing shortage.