¶ … Nursing
Define the Problem
Today, there is a serious problem within the nursing field. There is a huge shortage of nurses in general, but an even greater shortage of nurses with higher levels of education. This ultimately means there are less capable nursing staff that can take on specialty and leadership roles. Unfortunately, "without a more educated nursing workforce, the nation's health will be further at risk" (Tri-Council of Nursing, 2010). Without greater numbers of RNs with advanced degrees, there is only so much the available nursing population can contribute within the field of healthcare. It is clear that "nurses with advanced education are needed in large numbers to serve as teachers, scientists, primary care givers, specialists, and leaders throughout the healthcare delivery system" (Tri-Council of Nursing, 2010). Currently, there is a huge shortage of more advanced nursing specialists and practitioners. As the nation's healthcare demands continue to grow and get more complex, more advanced nurses will be needed to meet the increasing demand. There is an increasing aging population with more advanced and complicated health demands than ever before (Nueser, 2013). This population needs more educated nurses to best care for them. Unfortunately, this problem...
For the last twenty years, there has been an increasing gap in how many advanced nurses are needed, and how many are actually there to fill demand. There has been a goal set by the Institute of Medicine's Future of Nursing "that calls for increasing the proportion of nurses with baccalaureate degrees to 80% by 2020" (Pecci, 2013). This places a huge goal over the next few years to dramatically increase the numbers of advanced education nurses.
Ultimately, this has a huge significance to patient care. More nurses trained in higher degrees and in more specific specializations ultimately leads to better patient care (Pecci, 2013). With more nurses expanding their knowledge and skill sets, patients will see huge improvements in the quality of care, but also the innovation coming from nurses on their care giving team. The research suggests that "critical care units with higher percentages of RNs holding national specialty certifications had lower rates of central line-associated blood stream infections (CLABSI) and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI)" (Pecci, 2012). Clearly, the greater training a nurse has, the more capable that nurse is at providing the highest quality of care. Higher trained nurses can also share their…
