Nursing Managers and Leaders Approaches on Nursing Shortage and Turn-over

NURSING SHORTAGE AND NURSE TURN-OVER
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Nursing is a profession that has over time been experiencing an unendurable shortage of nurses. A report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the demand for nurses is expected to grow from 2.5 million to 3.7 million between 2014 and 2018. Ideally, this demand will be filled by graduating nursing students. However, research shows that about 50% of the graduating nurses leave their nursing job during the first two years. Compounding this staggering statistic is that there is a high number of aging nurses who are nearing retirement. The fragile health sector is running a risk of being handicapped by diminishing recruitment and retention of nurses (Sellgren&Ekvall, 2013). To that end, this paper examines nursing turnover and shortage and how nursing managers and nursing leaders should approach this situation. This paper will be supported by principles, theories roles, and skills of nursing leaders and nursing managers.
Nursing managers.
Managers focus on issues such as money, time, equipment and any other issued that is related to accomplishing a task. Effective managerial attributes involve organizing, budgeting, planning, controlling, coordinating and decision making (Filion, 2016). Nursing managers can take advantage of these attributes to approach the issue of nursing turnover effectively. The first major issue that is facilitating shortage of nurses is the aging population of registered nurses and low enrolment in nursing by the young population. Between the year 2000 and 2010, the number of registered nurses below thirty years old dropped from 25 percent to 8 percent (Cheryl & Gates, March). The shortage of qualified nurses has translated to increased job opportunities in the labor market. Nurses can easily quit their present jobs since they have a guarantee of getting other jobs elsewhere. Nursing managers can approach this issue by actively supporting initiatives aimed at increasing the number of qualified nursing. Such initiatives involve carrying out community outreach initiatives designed to encouraging students to pursue nursing, offering educational scholarships as well as providing financial support and time support for non- nursing staff in the hospital to enable them to pursue a nursing degree (Minority Nurse Staff, 2013). Managers can also lobby the government to invest in creating nursing schools as well as recruiting more nurses from other nations to work in their institutions.
In the current scarce labor market nursing managers can attract qualified and retain nurses by creating a brand that markets the unique career opportunities available in the organization as well as the unique cultural characteristics. Due to the hands-on nature of the nursing profession, the brand should involve changing working schedule design, pay structure as well as developmental opportunities related to the nursing profession. An efficient patient care delivery system that supports the aging population of nurses with be responsive to the most aging nurses since most of them are seeking for conducive well-scheduled jobs that will supplement their non-nursing related commitments. The brand should be practical, and Cleary communicated. It ...