In recent times, many people have expressed alarm at the increasing shortage of nurses, a situation that has conversely led to a continuing high demand for nurses in America, Canada and other places.
The shortage of nurses is thought to be, among other causes a reflection of job dissatisfaction in the nursing profession which is in turn attributed to the increasingly strenuous nursing job and working condition that are not matched with good salary and allowances relative to other professions in the medical industry.
The cumulative result of this scenario has been that fewer people are now interested in the nursing profession, hence fewer students are enrolled in nursing schools with many of them voicing their dissatisfaction with the nursing system.
Other results include the increasing tendency of nurses opting for early or voluntary retirement or even for complete switch over to a different profession.
On the surface, it may appear that there is no shortage of nurses as claimed by many people what with nearly 3 million registered nurses in America, most of them graduate nurses.
But in reality, the problem may not be with number but with the swindling number of nurses willing to work in public or private hospitals with their stringent job demands and non-commensurate salary, making more and more people opt for self-employed private practice.
This option on the other hand seems to be gaining popularity in terms of lucrativeness and optional working hours because of the rising population of sick people as well as in the number of aged people who require and prefer home care more than attendance to public or private hospitals and clinics.
In order to contain the increasing departure of nurses in public hospitals and avoid a possible situation of personnel crisis, hospitals authorities are devising new employment policies and practices to ensure effective day-to-day patient care.
Some of these new measures include the employment of travel nurses as well as non-American born nurses.
There is also a marked increase in the employment of older nurses, including formerly retired nurses.
A more enduring measure to contain the personnel crisis seems to lie in the introduction of better and higher conditions of service for nurses in terms of higher pay and allowances, shorter working hours and less strenuous job schedule.
This would in effect translate to the employment of more nurses per period and per schedule as well as the creation of more shifts.
Other conditions relating to transport, insurance and other job security matters also need to be readdressed.
At the last count, the role of nurses in the health care industry is as crucial and indispensable as the health care industry itself in which nurses are the livewire, which means that everything must be done to forestall a more devastating nursing shortage in the hospitals.
The shortage of nurses is thought to be, among other causes a reflection of job dissatisfaction in the nursing profession which is in turn attributed to the increasingly strenuous nursing job and working condition that are not matched with good salary and allowances relative to other professions in the medical industry.
The cumulative result of this scenario has been that fewer people are now interested in the nursing profession, hence fewer students are enrolled in nursing schools with many of them voicing their dissatisfaction with the nursing system.
Other results include the increasing tendency of nurses opting for early or voluntary retirement or even for complete switch over to a different profession.
On the surface, it may appear that there is no shortage of nurses as claimed by many people what with nearly 3 million registered nurses in America, most of them graduate nurses.
But in reality, the problem may not be with number but with the swindling number of nurses willing to work in public or private hospitals with their stringent job demands and non-commensurate salary, making more and more people opt for self-employed private practice.
This option on the other hand seems to be gaining popularity in terms of lucrativeness and optional working hours because of the rising population of sick people as well as in the number of aged people who require and prefer home care more than attendance to public or private hospitals and clinics.
In order to contain the increasing departure of nurses in public hospitals and avoid a possible situation of personnel crisis, hospitals authorities are devising new employment policies and practices to ensure effective day-to-day patient care.
Some of these new measures include the employment of travel nurses as well as non-American born nurses.
There is also a marked increase in the employment of older nurses, including formerly retired nurses.
A more enduring measure to contain the personnel crisis seems to lie in the introduction of better and higher conditions of service for nurses in terms of higher pay and allowances, shorter working hours and less strenuous job schedule.
This would in effect translate to the employment of more nurses per period and per schedule as well as the creation of more shifts.
Other conditions relating to transport, insurance and other job security matters also need to be readdressed.
At the last count, the role of nurses in the health care industry is as crucial and indispensable as the health care industry itself in which nurses are the livewire, which means that everything must be done to forestall a more devastating nursing shortage in the hospitals.