Nursing Shortage

Chapter 3: The U.S. Nursing Shortage

1. What has happened to the demand for new nurses in the United States? What has happened to the supply of new nurses? Why has the result been a shortage?

The demand for new nurses in the United States has risen for three main reasons. The first reason that the demand for new nurses has risen is due to the aging of the baby boomer generation, people born between 1946 and 1964. In 2008, there were approximately 77.3 million baby boomers and accounted for about 26% of the United States population. (Holst 2008) As this large portion of our population continues to age and need more health care, the demand for nurses will continue to climb. Another reason for the need for more nurses is the aging of nurses themselves. According to nursingworld.com, “The median age of nurses is 46.” The article also goes on to say, “More than 50% of the nursing workforce is close to retirement.” (Nursing World n.d.) This means that we need a steady increase of new nurses to take over for the retirees and to bring the average age down. The third main reason for the rise in the demand for nurses is Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. PPACA, also known as “Obamacare” will provide uninsured people access to affordable health insurance and will also require everyone to have some sort of health insurance or be taxed. According to a group called Doctors for Global Health, the plan “will extend health insurance to 32 million more Americans.” (Doctors for Global Health n.d.) That is a huge number of people which is why this is perhaps the number one reason we need more nurses. There is going to be a huge, and what I predict to be, unmanageable influx of new patients in 2014 when the law is finalized.

The nursing shortage has been a topic of concern for some time now and steps have been taken to bulk up the work force. According to nursefuture.com, “California alone spent $95 million dollars in federal, state and...