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Julie Mabini Dr. Ellena Shiflet Eng. 240; exploratory draft March 6, 2011 Nursing shortages are a real problem for nursing student and nurses. There are not enough student nurses in training to fill positions in medical facilities which would help relieve nurses. There have been budget cuts in the schools so educators return the medical field where the pay is better and jobs are available. With this shortage come hectic work schedules,

overworked nurses that might not be able to do their job efficiently. The other problem is aging nurses that cant keep up in a fast paced environment of hospitals and older nurses getting retired. In turn this causes issues with the quality of patient care. In this type of situation nurses can make mistakes which could hurt a patient, co-worker, or themselves. The nursing shortages are simply an issue with supply and demand, not enough nurses to patients and this job is in high demand. The shortage includes educators an additional reason for not accepting qualified applicants into the nursing programs which in turn causes the shortage of nurses. There are not enough nursing educators for the colleges which mean no classes for nursing students. Budget cuts nationwide are the cause of the decline in the nursing field. Report done by American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), U.S. nursing schools turned away 54,991 qualified applicants from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs in 2009 due to insufficient number of faculty, clinical sites, classroom space, clinical preceptors, and budget constraints. This is most likely caused by trimmed budgets caused by the recent

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recession affecting everyone. It seems that most educational programs are suffering due to the cuts including competent nursing students. With all the problems the healthcare fields are faced with it seems to me donations would to help with the statewide deficit. Whether it is classroom space or clinical sites for externships, private assistance could improve the shortage of nurses. If the guidelines could be reworked to get Military medics qualified without all the course work, could open up spaces in programs for those without that sort of experience. Being able to get nursing students into programs would stop the shortage of nurses. Legislation and the general assembly should be proactive to help put these ideas in place. The problem I foresee with passing a bill to help with the shortage is a political hold on all programs. Recent medical reform acts for medical insurance success is not going to help those patients if there are no nurses to attend to their medical needs. Seeking private donations for universities or other trade schools with nursing programs would improve the amount of nurses getting through the programs. Getting the needed experience in nursing clinicals are crucial to helping become qualified nurses. classrooms this could end the nursing shortage. If we could get more sites and

By cutting out the politics, which is not

probable, could save programs for future nurses. My idea seems as good as any, since politicians have not made a move on improving education. There could be draw backs to my plan, but if they are private assistance it would help the state deficit by getting nurses back in the work force. With private donations to benefit just the nursing program could upset other programs. These donations would not be statewide either and that could adversely affect other nursing programs. An example would be a wealthy family donating to a specific house or program to benefit their childs education. This could be a

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consider playing favorites and in return cause major issues in other programs. Like insider information on stocks. Not everyone would agree with my ideas but we need to do something to make going to nursing school a successful venture, rather than sitting on a list for 2-4 years. What a lot of people do not know is we do have expiration dates on nursing prerequisites. Having to repeat classes because you are still 200 on the list of applicants makes nursing students angry, all the work we do to even be looked at as a possible candidate for the program is enough stress. Having to wait for more classes to open up is frustrating which, usually makes applicants drop off those lists and go into new fields of study. This would be another cause of shortages in this field. The future 0f nursing is hanging by a thread but the state considers other issues more important at the moment. Everyone is feeling the squeeze but we are all in this. The State legislatures are the only one that can help our programs and if we cant pull out of the nationwide recession there will be little hope for educational programs such as nursing.

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References: American Association of Colleges of Nursing, Fact sheet 2010 <http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Media/shortageresource.htm>