Nursing Shortage And Nurse Turnover

Running head: NURSING SHORTAGE AND NURSE TURNOVER 1

Nursing Shortage and Nurse Turnover

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NURSING SHORTAGE AND NURSE TURNOVER 2

Introduction

Nursing shortage refers to a situation where demand for nursing professionals, such as

registered nurses(RN), exceeds the supply either locally, nationally, or globally (O'Grady, 2014).

This could be as a result of when the nurse-to-patient ratio, the nurse to population ratio, or the

number of job openings necessitates a higher number of nurses working in a health center than

currently available. Nurse turnover is defined as a job move, leaving the organization or leaving

the nursing professional entirely (O’Brian-Pallas et al., 2006).

The nursing shortage main contribution has been the increased number of retiring

registered nurses that are higher than individuals joining the nursing profession from colleges.

The rising population of aging people in need of nursing care among other medical services also

contributes to the nursing shortage. Nurses below thirty years of age are few as shown by Huber

(2010). According to him, between 1980 and 2004, the percentage of registered nurses below the

age of 30 drastically dropped from 25% to 8%.

The major issue affecting the nurses in their duty of providing care to patients is nursing

turnover and shortage. The shortage of nurses results in decreased access to care decreased job

satisfaction and increased rate of turnover. This paper shows what managers and nursing leaders

are expected to do to deal with this problem. The rationales of these expectations are derived

from the principles, theories roles, and skills of leaders’ versus managers.

Comparison and contrast of nursing leaders versus managers

Roles of nurse leaders

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Nurse leaders’ main role is to provide a positive environment and the existence of a

desirable workplace (Feldman, 2013). This ensures that nursing practice is provided in an

efficient, effective and safe manner. They are also responsible for taking care of the human

capital or the employees. This has a major impact on nurse job retention and satisfaction.

The task of fostering the culture of commitment in the organization to increase the

retention of licensed nurses also rests on the hands of leaders. Leaders have to focus on strategies

that address factors under the control of the employer that impact on nurse retention and those

that focus on the nurse-shortage. This entails activities like ensuring adequate resources and

staffing. The leaders must empower nurses through orientation, collaborative governance

opportunities, mentorship and staff development.

The way leaders behave towards staff as well as the way they value the input of the staff

members have a direct impact on staff retention. The relationship between the staff and their

leaders is a vital aspect that determines whether they can remain to be part of the health

organization or not. Nurse leaders have an impact on staff turnover since they are the ones who

provide support and direction. Recognition, communication, and autonomy are essential

interventions that leaders can implement to retain nurses.

Roles of nurse managers

Nurse managers, on the other hand, have a role in retaining employees. This can be

achieved by offering meaningful feedback, recognition and a chance to feel that their work is

valuable and valued. Managers are required to build the intrinsic motivation of nurses. It is also

the responsibility of the managers to communicate the organizational culture of respecting and

valuing the nursing caregivers.

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It is essential for nurse managers to provide relocation coverage and bonuses to the staffs

willing to relocate in order to deal with the high rate of shortage among nurses. More than a third

of staffs in nursing professionals are more than fifty years of age. This relates to the average age

expected of a nurse to work the full-time job of 49 years. Nurse managers have the challenges to

restrict their models of patient care services by ensuring that they provide the necessary support

for older nursing staff in their practice since nursing is a physically demanding job.

They also need to develop new technologies that translate into effective practice within

the nursing profession. Managers can help elderly nurses by providing them with the flexibility

of their schedules, sabbaticals time off duty. Managers should ensure high and positive

performance and be responsible in formulating human resource policies that touch on benefits

and wages and issues on flexibility and soft skills. The policies have to focus on aspects like

career ladders and training, realistic job reviews and scheduling among others. Motivational care

practices and work organization also need to be provided to staffs.

The nurse managers also have to be responsible for the daily operations of organizations.

This is perceived as the glue that holds the hospital together. They are held accountable for all

the management aspects of a health care facility. The behaviors of managers promote a positive

attitude and perception towards the organization thereby enhancing their commitments,

satisfaction and intent to stay.

Nurse Managers play a vital role in increasing job satisfaction and work stress reduction. They

need to define roles, maintain a positive working environment and provide support to nurses.

An approach that suits my leadership style

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Transformational leadership best fits my personal and professional philosophy of nursing.

It is concerned with promoting a high level performance in the work environment. This approach

ensures that there are few disruptions in a wide range of circumstances. It allows for teamwork

thereby enabling individual staffs to explore their innovativeness at work.

In this model, it will be possible to empower members of a team to be leaders of various

issues of a project according to the level of their skills and competence. This will see to it that

nurses develop their individual leadership skills and enable me to identify conflicts and barriers

at any moment they arise.as a leader is possible to remain part of the team through spearheading

in a vision creation and sharing work.

This approach will enable me to instill respect and faith, treat employees as unique and

value individuals and benefit from their innovativeness in solving problems. It will also enable

me practice ethical principles and transmit values to team players and at the same time provide

them with a challenging goal while communicating future vision.

Conclusion

Exploring the current nursing shortage and turnover is important because many factors

contribute to the reason why the developing and the developed countries are facing this problem

today. Nurse leaders as well as managers play a pivotal role in reducing shortage of nursing and

nurse turnover.

A clear difference clearly exists between leadership and management in the health care facility.

Nurse Managers concern themselves with control, organizing and planning while leaders

communicate a vision, motivate, empower and inspire nurses so as to create the needed changes

in the organization.

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References

Feldman, H. R. (2013). The nursing shortage : strategies for recruitment and retention in

clinical practice and education. New York: Springer Pub.

O'Grady, T. P. (2014). The nursing shortage. Chicago: American Nurses' Association.

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