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Policy Briefing
Nurse Shortage in the US
From: Benita Jones, Health Care Administration Student, US
To: Program Advisor for MS, Health Care Quality and Safety
Introduction:
The nurse shortage is expected to continue to grow even though nursing schools across the U.S
are trying their best to expand capacity for their RN programs. America’s population of nurses
contribute to the most expansive part of the health care workforce. Even though nursing is one of
the most rapidly growing jobs in the U.S, the demand for nurses is outpacing supply. An aging
population and the increase of chronic diseases in the U.S drives the demand for nurses. The U.S
struggles a lot with many chronic diseases, because not much money in health care is spent on
preventive care. By the time something irregular is discovered it has evolved into a much larger
issue. These preventive chronic illnesses once treated in secondary care require more attention
than they would have if they were caught in primary care. People with chronic diseases are
known to need more health care services and people that are over the age of 65 are known to
have more chronic diseases. America’s population of nurses are also aging so it is expected that
many will retire making the nursing shortage even worst. All around the U.S the reasons for a
nursing shortage could be different. An example would be in places like Florida or Arizona
where the aging population is extremely high due to an increased influx of retirees. Another
example would be the small amount of nursing schools an area may have available. Because of
the increased nursing shortage many hospitals, clinics, and nursing facilities have resorted to
offering overtime to nurses and financial incentives, which causes the cost of health care overall
to increase. In the future the nursing shortage should be addressed by offering tuition rebates to
students that decided to teach nursing courses, in order to combat the surge of nurses that are
expected to retire in the future. Another way the nursing shortage could be addressed is if some
new nursing schools were built, or some of the existing programs expanded to help provide more
nursing education opportunities.
Nature and Magnitude of the Problem:
Supply and demand of nurses can be affected by a number of different factors. The demand for
nurses is expected to grow so large that the Bureau of Labor Statistics is predicting that “1.2
million vacancies will emerge for registered nurses between 2014 and 2022”(Grant 2016)
Studies have shown that not having enough nurses could have an adverse effect on patients.
Studies have also shown that having a nurse shortage could increase the mortality rates so it can
be said that the nurse shortage the U.S is experiencing is actually taking lives. One contributing
factor to the nursing shortage is the increase of the aging population. “Today, there are more
Americans over the age of 65 than at any other time in U.S. history. Between 2010 and 2030, the
population of senior citizens will increase by 75 percent to 69 million” (Grant 2016) There is a
large percentage of the aging population in the U.S that has access to health insurance schemes
such as Medicare. By having access to health insurance people in the aging population are able
to receive more services. Health insurance allows people in the U.S to received health care cost
at a discount or totally for free. One survey concluded that 40% of people who don’t have health
insurance decide “not to go to the doctor when they thought they need to” (Collins 2016) With
the growing aging population receiving many health care services it puts a strain on the health
system overall, because health care institutions are forced to seeks ways to deal with the shortage
of nurses. Chronic Disease are known to be more prevalent among the aging population. “About
80 percent of older adults have at least one chronic condition, and 68 percent have at least two”
(Grant 2016) Having a chronic disease as a member of the aging population would cause you to
have to seek medical attention more. When people of the aging population seek medical
attention, many require more specialized attention because of the the complexity of the health in
the older generation.
Since most of the nurses started working before the 1970’s “nearly 700,000 nurses are projected
to retire or leave the labor force by 2024.”(Grant 2016). Nursing was one of the most common
primary occupations outside the home for women. When the Women’s Liberation Movement
started in the 1960’s it encouraged more women to become lawyers, engineers, and university
professors. This movement directed women away from traditionally pink collar professions such
as nursing. As a result of the Women’s Liberation Movement fewer women chose to go to
nursing school which is what started the nursing shortage.
