How Nurses Can Leave the Hospital and Still Help with The Nursing Shortage

(Photo : How Nurses Can Leave the Hospital and Still Help with The Nursing Shortage)

Nurses are having a hard time at the moment. The coronavirus pandemic means that nurses are not only working longer shifts and more of them but that when they are at work, they are at risk of contracting the virus for themselves. They frequently have to worry whether there will be enough PPE available to give them the protection they need, and they also have to contend that there often weren't enough of them there to do all the work and deliver the patient care that needed to be done in the first place. It is easy to see how nurses are becoming stressed and burned out, and why many of them are leaving the profession for other work that does not take such a huge toll on them personally. 

The problem is that nurses are nurses because they love what they do, and they may struggle to find the levels of satisfaction that comes with caring for patients elsewhere. Many nurses care deeply about the healthcare institutions that they have left behind. 

Nurses can leave the hospital and still help address the nursing shortage by embarking on a nursing education career.

How Bad Is the Nursing Shortage?

The BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) anticipates that between 2019 and 2029, the need for nurses will grow by seven percent. This is much faster than the development in other professions. They are also predicting that the need for people working in nursing education will grow by twenty percent between 2018 and 2028, from 69,000 to 82,800, which impacts on the ability to educate all of the new Registered Nurses that are needed.

In 2019 the number of nurses employed in the US was 3,096,700. This means that the BLS predicts that an additional 216,769 nurses will be needed to meet the additional demand. Additional nurses will also be needed to replace those who retire or leave the profession. The Bureau predicts that this figure will be around 175,900 nurses per year.

A 2018 study on the nursing shortage predicted that a shortage of Registered Nurses is due to spread across the country between 2016 and 2030. In this state-by-state analysis, the authors forecast the RN shortage to be most intense in the South and the West.

Some groups have been declaring that the nursing shortage is no longer as much of an issue, which the Tri-Council for nursing has cautioned against. Due to the economic downturn, there have been fewer open positions for nurses, making it seem as though there are enough nurses to meet demand. However, the opening of a position depends on the money being there to pay for it, so just because the positions are not there at the moment, it does not mean that the nurses are not still needed. Most analysts believe this to be temporary. They believe that particularly with the impacts of healthcare reform and the aging population, the open positions for nurses will increase once again.

What's Causing the Nursing Shortage?

There are several factors which are adding to the shortage of Registered Nurses:

• The population is aging. According to the 2019 census, there were more than 54 million US citizens aged 65 and older. This is a rise of 14 million compared with the 2010 census, which showed 40.3 million US citizens aged 65 and over. This growth has been determined by the aging of the Baby Boomer generation born between 1946 and 1964, who are living much longer and more active lives than their parents did. With an aging population comes an increased demand for geriatric nursing care.

• Increasing rates of chronic conditions. There has been a noted increase in the number of people suffering from chronic conditions such as diabetes and obesity. People with these conditions require consistent care from nurses throughout their lives.

• Emphasis on preventative care. We now place a greater emphasis on preventative care, nurses have more involvement in educating their patients on how to lead healthier lives. This includes activities like running clinics to help people stop smoking or lose weight. We also monitor people more who are at risk of developing life-threatening conditions later on. This ultimately lessens the healthcare system's strain, but it does require nurses to run these initiatives.

• Nursing School Enrollment Is Not High Enough to Meet Demand. The AACN (American Association of Colleges of Nursing) reported that the number of people enrolling in nursing programs isn't enough to meet nurses' demand. There was a 5.1% increase in enrollment for bachelor nursing programs in 2019, but this is not sufficient to meet the projected demand for both patients and nurses.

• Nursing Schools Are Having to Turn Away Students. In the academic year 2019/2020, nursing schools had to turn away 80,407 qualified applicants for nursing programs because they didn't have the faculty, clinical sites, classroom space, clinical preceptors, or the budget to be able to cater for their nursing education.

• A Significant Number of Nurses Are Nearing Retirement Age. A 2018 survey of registered nurses found that the average age for an RN is fifty years old. This indicates that we may see a significant number of nurses retiring over the next fifteen years. A 2017 study predicted that around one million nurses would leave the workforce by 2030.

• Insufficient staffing is raising stress levels and impacting on job satisfaction. A 2017 study found that the fewer nurses at the bedside, the more likely the risk of preventable deaths and the worse the quality of care. This makes the nurses who are working experience higher levels of stress and lower levels of job satisfaction, which makes them want to leave their career. Almost all nurses who were surveyed see the shortage in the future as a catalyst for increasing stress on their colleagues (98%), lowering the quality of patient care (93%), and causing nurses to leave the profession (93%).

What Are the Impacts?

The AACN has published links to multiple studies that show that the nursing shortage directly impacts the quality of care that is given to patients and their chances of survival.

Having enough nurses means that people can access the healthcare that they need when they need to access it. This means that more people can receive treatment when they are still in the 'preventative care' stage of their medical journey, rather than waiting until their issue becomes an acute one that is much more difficult to solve and puts a greater strain on healthcare systems.

The shortage of nurses also further contributes to nurses' shortage by making the work environment stressful, and difficult nurses are more inclined to leave the profession. Aspiring nurses might choose another career path instead. This also impacts on nursing education because Nurse Educators must first be Registered Nurses. If there are not enough Registered Nurses, there will not be enough nursing education professionals to allow aspiring nurses to access nursing education, and the cycle continues.

What's Being Done About It?

The problem is being addressed in a few ways by a few different organizations. 

At the state level, a few states are making funds available to invest in nurses' education. For example, the 'Nurses for Wisconsin' initiative in 2014, which provided fellowship and loan forgiveness for nursing education professionals to get their masters, provided that they agreed to teach in the state once they had graduated. This has helped to fill some much-needed positions and open up further training possibilities for new nurses.

Nursing schools are also forming strategic partnerships. A key partnership has been with the VA (Veterans Association). Nursing schools have received funding from the VA to help them recruit more nursing and nursing education students, and in return, those nursing schools will ensure that there is a focus on veterans' care.

Multinational corporations are also getting involved. Johnson and Johnson have sustained its Campaign for Nursing's Future since 2002, which is a multimedia initiative to promote careers in nursing.

The Role Nurse Educators Have to Play

The role of nurse educators in addressing the nursing shortage is a pivotal one. 

If there are enough Nurse educators, then it means that more prospective nurses can access nursing education and gain their BSN. This, in turn, means that the nurses who are retiring or otherwise leaving the profession will be replaced, which will lessen nurses' stress in the workplace, which will hopefully mean that more nurses stay in the profession. Once the profession becomes more stable and more attractive, this will begin to attract more people to the career. The effect will snowball like this and keep increasing the numbers of nurses entering the profession, preventing huge numbers of nurses from leaving the profession.

Registered Nurses who are prospective nurse educators can help address the nursing shortage, but they can use their talent and knowledge to shape the minds of nurses and the future of the nursing practice. 

Nurse.org has said that 'There is a vital need for nurse educators in academia. Young, experienced, and talented educators are critical to continue educating the new and upcoming nursing students. Without filling these vacancies, the nursing profession will continue to decline from a shortage of experienced nurses.'

What Career Prospects Are There for A Nurse Educator?

As we have already discussed, the demand for Nurse Educators is high. This means that taking up a nursing education career means adding to your skillset in a way that means you are almost guaranteed job security.

As of May 2017, the median annual salary for Nurse Educators was $77,360. Most nurse educators work in colleges or universities; however, some nurse educators are also employed by hospitals. Nursing education professionals employed by hospitals will generally receive a larger salary. The annual mean wage for nurse educators working in hospitals was $89,390 in 2017.

Their role involves developing the coursework curriculum, teaching courses, evaluating educational programs, and overseeing clinical rotations. Perhaps unsurprisingly, for an academic role, a large proportion of their time is spent engaging in scholarly work. This might include research and peer-reviewing the research of other academics, which is just as vital to the continuance of nursing education, as research plays a role in how nursing education develops and evolves. Also, they may have other duties, such as:

• Developing lesson plans

• Serving as a mentor 

• Documenting outcomes of educational processes

• Promoting discussions among students

• Attending faculty meetings

• Writing grant proposals

• Serving on University-based committees

• Speaking at nursing conferences

• Maintaining clinical competence

• Contributing to the academic community 

How Can A Nurse Become A Nurse Educator?

To become a Nurse Educator, you must first be a Registered Nurse. You will need to obtain your MSN (Master of Science in Nursing) in nursing education, with specific entry criteria. The online program is a great choice for busy nurses because it allows you to complete all of your coursework online, which is much easier to fit in around your work and life. They also offer full support with clinical placements. To qualify for this course, you will need:

• A current, unencumbered RN license.

• A BSN degree from an accredited school of nursing. If your qualification is not a BSN, you may be able to take a bridging course to allow you to access the masters - it is worth speaking with the school admissions team about this.

• An undergraduate or graduate-level statistics course.

The masters will help you understand teaching methodology and create engaging teaching materials that encourage professional development and training. It will widen your own knowledge of procedures, skills, and clinical reasoning that you can apply to your curriculum plans and form the foundation of the research you may carry out as part of an academic role.

Unlike other nursing specialisms, once you have completed your masters, you will not need to take an exam to become a certified nursing educator. You will be able to start applying for positions.