If you are already a nurse or are considering a nursing career, you are well aware of the severe nursing shortage, but have you ever wondered how it affects nurses?
In some ways, the nursing shortage benefits nurses because it means that nurses are highly sought after by employers. As a result, it often times means better pay and job security.
The shortage, however, can be very stressful for nurses. When hospitals can’t hire enough nurses, the nurses that they do have end up working a lot of overtime, which is exhausting – both mentally and physically. 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 once showed that 93 percent of nurses surveyed felt that the lack of time that they were able to spend with patients was a major problem, and that the problem was caused by the nursing shortage.
Hopefully our legislatures will start providing more funding to hire nursing teachers. If nursing teachers were better paid, more nurses might choose to be teachers rather than practice in the field. The end result would mean nursing schools could finally start serving enough students to address the nursing shortage and to cut down on those long nursing school waiting lists.
