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Samantha Goins
Dr. Silver
UWRT 1101
22 October 2015
Nursing Shortage
There is an ever-increasing need for nurses. We have heard about the need for many
years, but chances are people dont take a second to consider what this need really means and
how it affects medical facilities. I have chosen the path to become a nurse practitioner. Caring for
others is my passion, and knowing that there is a shortage affecting those in need of care, creates
a lot of concern. The concern is not only for the patients, but also nurses currently in the field
who are experiencing growing workloads. Without nurses, healthcare would be in turmoil, and I
am interested in learning more about the shortage of nurses and how it is affecting medical
facilities.
There are some things about this topic that I am familiar with, such as:

There is an ever-increasing need for health care.

We are in a baby boom age, and the population is aging and therefore will impact the

demand of healthcare.
Many nurses work twelve hour shifts and overtime.
Nurses are very crucial in patient care.
There have been recent debates on the media display of nurses regarding the importance

of their role in the medical field.

Nurses work hard and require a lot of endurance.
There are constantly things to be done during a nurses work shift.

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Nursing is many times underestimated by those who regard doctors as the most important

member of the medical team.

Nurses work closest to the patients and help physicians identify the best treatments.

There are still many things that I do not know about the topic, such as:

Has there been a budget issue throughout healthcare?

Is there a fixed patient-to-nurse ratio?
What is the shortage doing to the lengths and amount of shifts for nurses?
How many breaks do nurses get per shift?
What is the estimated increase of need?
What is causing the shortage?
How is the shortage affecting medical facilities?
Is there something being done about the shortage?

The question that appeals to me the most is what is causing the nursing shortage, and how
is it affecting the medical facilities. This question covers the basic issue. The need for nurses is
crucial, and if there is a reason causing a shortage, then there is possibly a solution than can
improve the situation. As I research further, I hope that I can learn more about the working
situations in facilities experiencing the shortage, and what factors are making the shortage
increase. I can narrow my inquiry by finding the specific factors that relate to the constant
increase of medical patients and the rate at which nurses are entering the field.
When trying to find the answers to my questions I will need to rely on credible sources.
These sources will have to come from published works with credited statistics and facts
regarding the issue. Some examples would be the American Nurses Association, American
Hospital Association, National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Bureau of Labor Statistics,
U.S National Library of Medicine, and the U.S Department of Health and Human Services. I
know these sources will be credible because many of them are under government publication.
They have updated statistics and representable facts that can be relied on for accurate

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information and are easy to identify. There are a lot of governmental sites that have statistical
facts and analysis on issues occurring in the medical field. The nursing shortage issue is a widespreading issue so naturally there is a lot of commentary out there, yet some resources such as
opinionated blogs could offer unreliable information, and therefore will not be used. Using the
wide variety of published and reliable sources, I will be able to piece together different facts to
possibly create an answer as to why there is an increasing shortage of nurses.
So far through the process of creating a basis for my research I have been able to identify
some sources that could really be affective in finding an answer to my topic. It was sort of
difficult creating the list of things I know and dont know. I have never thought out what I did
not know about something. It was actually a constructive process that allowed me to identify
areas that I could use to build my research. When it comes to relativity to my peers, I feel that
with the amount of nursing students, many of them will benefit from this research and have their
own opinions on the matter. I could use the information available about the need for nurses and
see how that affects nursing students and their decision to join the medical field. I could also ask
if knowing about the workload nurses have from the lack of staff is encouraging or discouraging.
This question can be answered, and it is a great way to see how the next generation of nurses
view the issue. My genre is something that needs to be serious, and it needs to express the need
for nurses. Without nurses, there is not patient care. I feel that knowing about the need can be
very encouraging to those considering entering into the medical field.