Example Of Term Paper On Supply And Demand Of Nursing Professional

When you first walk into anything health facility, the first person you will probably meet is a nurse. Nurses are integral component in administration of primary care to the patients. Thus, the nurses are trained and educated individuals who are responsible in taking care of the patients suffering from variety of illnesses, the disabled, aged population, and pregnant women. Additionally, nurses are involved in the provision health promotion and illness prevention exercises which are aimed at encouraging the public to live a healthy lifestyle. Nurses are also involved in the design of after care plans and educating patients or the family member of the patient on how to administer after care treatment to avoid readmission or infections. Moreover, nurses are actively involved in shaping the health care sector by taking part in research, participate in administration decision making and making health policy in various capacity in the country. The primary goal for all the nurses is to alleviate patient from suffering so that they can live a healthy and quality life (Barr, 2011).
However, the demand for nurses in the country surpasses the supply of nurses in the United State. The country is facing a serious shortage of nurses in all States. The current reforms in the health care sector such the Affordable Care Act have increase access to health care. Thus, due to the implementation of the Obama care the demand of health care is high. Furthermore, the country is experiencing increase of population especially the adult patients who are vulnerable to illnesses hence this has push up the demand for health care. On the other hand, the public through the help of the internet and media have become health consciousness. This has prompted the public to seek the medical attention since they know what they want and where they can get it. Unfortunately supply of nurses has not reciprocated the demand in the market. The number of nurses has remained relatively the same despite the increase in demand (HRSA 2013). The number of nurses who join the professional does not cover those who leave the professional. There is big number of nurses who have left the professional due to retirement, death, promotion to managerial positions or who leave the professional for greener pastures in other fields. Thus, there is need for comprehensive reforms in the nursing professional such as increase in salary, benefits, flexible working hours and conducive working environment (Flinkman et al., 2013). This will make the professional lucrative and attract more people to the nursing professional. Additionally, team work in all health care should be encouraged to ease the pressure on the current nurses in the professional (NAP, 2009).
Conclusively, nurses are significant workforce in the health sector who cannot be written off due to their priceless contribution in the health sector. However, this professional is facing a serious shortage which needs comprehensive solution. These solutions should make sure the supply of the nurses meet the demand of the patients and the welfare of the nurses is alleviated.

References

Flinkman, M., Isopahkala-Bouret, U., & Salanterä, S. (2013). Young Registered Nurses' Intention to Leave the Profession and Professional Turnover in Early Career: A Qualitative Case Study. International Scholarly Research Notices,2013.
Barr, D. A. (2011). Introduction to US health policy: the organization, financing, and delivery of health care in America. JHU Press.
HRSA. (2013). Projecting the Supply and Demand for Primary Care Practitioners Through 2020. Retrieved from http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/healthworkforce/supplydemand/usworkforce/primarycare/index.html
NAP. (2009). Ensuring Quality Cancer Care Through the Oncology Workforce: Sustaining Care in the 21st Century: Workshop Summary. Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12613&page=8