Important Issues in the Profession of Nursing Today

Important Issues in the Profession of Nursing Today
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Important Issues in the Profession of Nursing Today
In 2010, former U.S. President Barack Obama addressed the American Nurses Association. In his speech, President Barack Obama said that “America’s nurses are the beating heart of our medical system.” He continued to say that the nurses are “on the front lines of healthcare in small clinics and in large hospitals; in rural towns and in big cities” (The Obama White House, 2010). Truer words have never been spoken. Nurses play crucial roles in the healthcare sectors of all countries. They are the ones tasked with taking care of patients and, therefore, spend most of their time in and outside patient rooms. The involvement of nurses with patients leads to higher patient outcomes, and hence their relevance in the healthcare sector. While assessing the most crucial issues in the nursing profession, several issues come to mind. However, technology, nursing shortage, and the need for higher levels of education and training take precedence. These three issues speak to the current state of the nursing profession while also shedding light on the possibilities of the future within the profession. Provided herein is an elucidation of the three factors’ relevance and influence in the healthcare sector.
Need for Higher Levels of Education and Training
The healthcare sector is changing fast. Today, there are more elderly patients with increasingly new care demands that strain the care providers. Also, increasingly new conditions or diseases strain the provision of care. Another issue that showcases a major change in the healthcare sector is the large number of experienced and older nurses retiring from their positions, leaving healthcare teetering on the verge of collapse. When the Medicaid and Medicare programs were initiated, a significant percentage of the populace saw the need to join the nursing workforce. Of this lot, many were women, and they helped to hold steady the American healthcare system. By the 90s, there was a lot of experience within the healthcare sector from nurses whose retiring age was fast approaching. However, it was becoming apparent that the healthcare sector was not prepared for any sudden change in the numbers. Losing any percentage of this lot meant a loss of irreplaceable experience and knowledge that had been amassed for close to four decades
The gap created by these losses needs to be filled. However, there has never been a clear path on how such a gap can be filled. Every aspect of the nursing profession was impacted by these losses. One such sector was the education sector, which lost educators with years of experience and knowledge of the American health system. A shortage of healthcare educators means that nursing schools have been greatly affected by faculty shortages. Faculty shortages result from either non-conducive working environments or a high rate of retiring faculty members. In the U.S., a majority of the nursing educators are part of members who joined the nursing workforce back when the Medicaid and Medicare programs were launched. Therefore, many of them have reached retiring age. However, there being a need to help nurs...