Health Policy and Legal Aspect Essay Paper
1. States nursing issue,
2. lists 3 reasons how this affects practice, help requesting and
3. 3 examples how this would positively impact nurses

Two professional references dated from within the past 5 years and two in-text citations in correct APA format

Health Policy and Legal Aspect

1. Nursing issue

The issue of concern is nurses shortage in the USA, an issue expected to intensify as the need for health care grows, ‘baby boomers age’, practicing nurses retire, and nurses changing careers owing to raising stress levels impacting job satisfaction. The issue is compounded by the fact that education institutions offering nursing programs are struggling to expand their capacity to meet the rising demand. A review of the associated statistics reveals that the number of nurses would grow by 438,100 every year between 2016 and 2026, and yet there is an annual demand for 641,800 additional nurses in the USA every year. This implies that the number of new nurses would fall short by 203,700 every year (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2020).  Health Policy and Legal Aspect Essay Paper

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2. Effect on practice

Nurses shortage has a negative impact on practice. Firstly, it negatively impacts patient safety by reducing the contact between nurses and patients. Secondly, it reduces the quality of care by increasing the workload of nurses so that they have a higher possibility of causing errors. Thirdly, it has a negative effect on health care access and delays service delivery as nurses are important primary care providers and their shortage implies that the American population must go to considerable length to access nursing services (Rosenberg, 2019).

3. Solution and positive impact on nurses

The solution is to increase the number of nurses by increasing opportunities for education, hiring more nurses, and increasing their earnings so that they are motivated not to change careers (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2020). A larger number of nurses would reduce the stress on nurses so that they are able to focus on fewer tasks and responsibilities resulting in fewer errors. In addition, it would improve satisfaction levels so that retention levels increase as nurses continue practicing rather than switching to other careers. Besides that, it would allow nurses to have healthier lives and better able to maintain a healthy work-life balance (Morris, 2019).

References

American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2020). Nursing Shortage. https://www.aacnnursing.org/News-Information/Fact-Sheets/Nursing-Shortage

Morris, E. (2019). Increasing Nurse Retention. American Journal of Nursing, 119(8), 10. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NAJ.0000577344.79136.9b

Rosenberg, K. (2019). RN Shortages Negatively Impact Patient Safety. American Journal of Nursing, 119(3), 51. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NAJ.0000554040.98991.23            Health Policy and Legal Aspect Essay Paper