NCONL Talking Points
Nursing Shortage
- In most healthcare institutions, the traditional skill mix involving registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and certified nurses assistants has evolved into teams of professionals, which include interdisciplinary approaches to care. Registered nurses are at the forefront of leading these teams and collaborating with the patient's plan of care.
- In an effort to effectively manage patient care and the nursing shortage, healthcare settings expanded the role of the nursing assistant; however, the registered nurse has increased accountability for ensuring standards of patient care. With this expanded role of the nurse assistant, healthcare settings should make every effort to provide ongoing training and competency validation as per accreditation and regulatory standards.
- Healthcare settings are experiencing difficulty recruiting experienced nursing personnel especially in specialty areas. Areas predominantly facing this shortage include the operating room and critical care. The applicant pool of available nurses is not enough to meet the demand.
- Although the current nursing shortage is not unlike previous shortages, concern arises when the average age of the bedside nurse is taken to account as well as the decreasing enrollments noted at colleges and universities of nursing students. In addition, we are seeing experienced nurses leave traditional acute care settings for less stressful yet more lucrative position outside of acute care.
- Strategies aimed at increasing nursing school enrollment and promoting the advancement of nursing practice will assist in the long-term retention of nurses. Work environment should continually be assessed at the department and administrative level to ensure the provision of quality patient care.
- Hospitals continue to be places where care is a "human experience" and not a tangible product. Efforts aimed at promoting this philosophy to regulatory agencies and payors of healthcare services continues to be a priority in the ever-changing healthcare environment.
Nurse leaders must have active involvement in legislative health policy issues and local and national media coverage on health care needs.
As an organization dedicated to providing support for nurse leaders that make decisions related to patient care assignments, the North Carolina Organization for Nurse Leaders supports staffing patterns that promote safe patient care. The nursing profession has historically accepted responsibility to assure that safe and accessible healthcare is available to the public even in times of nursing shortages. The profession continues to accept this responsibility and identifies strategies to promote the best possible care. In keeping with this philosophy, the NCONL recognizes the following talking points:
REFERENCES:
NCONE Workplace Issues. 2000 Document.
NCONL Talking Points Document. 2000.
