The issue of nursing shortage continues to influence the quality of health services available to many citizens. This shortage has led to numerous problems such as burnout, ineffective care, poor working environments, increased medical errors, and re-hospitalization (Littlejohn, Campbell, Collins-McNeil, & Khayile, 2012). Incidentally, the problem of nurse shortage affects many patients across the globe. That being the case, the main topic for this study is Nursing Shortage. A detailed analysis of this topic will present new ideas that can be used to address the problem.
List of Topics and Themes
The above health problem can be analyzed using different topics. Such topics can be used to present new solutions and eventually support the health needs of many patients. The major themes supporting the outlined topics include healthcare, nurse shortage, workforce issues, and healthcare delivery (Littlejohn et al., 2012). The major topics targeted for the final study are presented below.
- Nursing shortage and healthcare delivery;
- Ineffectiveness of the United States’ healthcare system and the nursing shortage;
- Causes and impacts of the nursing shortage;
- Nursing shortage as a global challenge;
- Possible solutions towards dealing with the nursing shortage;
- Addressing the problem of nurse shortage and healthcare promotion;
- Evidence-based practices to deal with the problem of nursing shortage in the United States;
- Nursing shortage and implications on the quality of care across the globe.
Questions
The above themes can be used to outline specific questions to explore the nursing shortage problem in the country. This problem explains why more citizens can’t receive quality medical care (Littlejohn et al., 2012). The questions presented below can be used to explore the targeted topic further. The process can deliver new findings that can be used by institutions to address the nursing shortage’s challenge.
The major questions include:
- Why has the nursing shortage become a major issue in the United States?
- What are the major causes of the nursing shortage?
- What measures have been put in place to address the problem of nursing shortage?
- What can learning institutions do to address the shortage of healthcare professionals?
- What is the relationship between the nursing shortage and healthcare delivery?
- How does the problem of nursing shortage impact different working environments?
- Has the government implemented sustainable measures to deal with the decreasing number of nurse practitioners?
- Why has the nursing shortage remained a global health problem?
- What does the research say about the problem of nursing shortage?
Five Possible Research Questions
The above questions can be used to examine the major issues associated with the problem of the nursing shortage. The questions can present useful insights about the challenges affecting more citizens in the country (Littlejohn et al., 2012). The above questions can be developed further to sustain a quality research study (Hussain, Rivers, Glovert, & Fottler, 2012). The five research questions presented below will be considered to complete the proposed research study.
- What is the background of the nursing shortage, and how does it affect the quality of healthcare in the United States?
- What measures have been implemented by the government to deal with the nursing shortage?
- How does nursing shortage affect different health working environments?
- What is the role of learning institutions towards addressing the shortage of nurses?
- What is the future of nursing, and how might it dictate the health outcomes of diverse communities?
Selected Question for the Final Project
The above research questions will be used to understand the targeted issue of nurse shortage (Littlejohn et al., 2012). However, one research question will be used to complete the final project. The selected question is presented below.
- What is the background of the nursing shortage, and how does it affect the quality of healthcare in the United States?
Goals of the Study
The proposed study will play a significant role in understanding the issues associated with the challenge of the nursing shortage. This is the case because the nursing shortage is a global problem that affects the quality of health services available to many citizens (Negarandeh, 2015). Although many initiatives have been implemented to deal with this problem, more patients still receive poor health services.
The completed study will be expected to deliver specific goals and improve the health outcomes of many citizens. The outlined goals will be used by healthcare organizations, policymakers, government officials, and non-governmental institutions to present appropriate ideas (Littlejohn et al., 2012). Such ideas will eventually address the nursing shortage problem and support the health needs of many people across the globe.
- To analyze the nature of the nursing shortage.
- To outline the major causes of the nursing shortage in the United States.
- Examine how the nursing shortage continues to affect the quality of health care.
- Identify the major problems faced by overworked nurses and caregivers.
- Outline evidence-based practices that have been applied in different institutions to address the nursing shortage predicament.
- Propose new recommendations that can address this problem.
References
Hussain, A., Rivers, P., Glovert, S., & Fottler, M. (2012). Strategies for dealing with future shortages in the nursing workforce: a review. Health Services Management Research, 25(1), 41-47.
Littlejohn, L., Campbell, J., Collins-McNeil, J., & Khayile, T. (2012). Nursing shortage: a comparative analysis. International Journal of Nursing, 1(1), 22-27.
Negarandeh, R. (2015). Facing nursing shortage: a complex challenge. Journal of Hayat, 20(4), 1-4.