An international perspective on nursing shortages

Christine Kessler, MSN, CRNP, of Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C., delivered the opening keynote address on the Nursing2010 Symposium in Las Vegas on April 6. In his presentation titled “What Would Florence Do? Nursing Past, Present and Future” – Kessler reports on expert projections on the severity of the nursing shortage over the following ten to fifteen years. Kessler also cautioned that we must always not assume that the nursing shortage is over because many markets experiencing an economic downturn have few or no job openings. The global trend is that the aging of the nursing workforce will lead to the frequent retirement of many practicing nurses and nursing staff. Kessler made optimistic suggestions for increasing the workforce on this occupation and attracted great interest from a gaggle of traveling nurses from Jordan who shared their story in regards to the nursing shortage.

That evening at a celebration, I met two nurses from Jordan and asked if I could share their story on my blog. Randa, a nurse with a PhD, and Alia, a nurse with a baccalaureate degree, were wanting to talk in regards to the nursing shortage of their country. They explained that not only do fewer women enter the labor market than men, but that they often leave the occupation once they get married and have children. Compounding the issue is that the predominantly Muslim country has religious traditions that outline who can provide care based on gender. Randa said that “”men and girls are on separate floors within the hospital” and “only women can look after other women and kids””. Therefore, these nurses are very concerned in regards to the quality of look after women and kids. Randa and Alia are encouraged by the federal government’s move to control enrollment in nursing schools, which requires a better percentage of women. They are still on the lookout for additional ideas from the Nursing2010 Symposium that might be transferred to Jordan and disseminated in articles and presentations.

Like these Jordanian nurses, their directors, nurse educators and government officials around the globe must work together to search out realistic solutions to the nursing shortage. To learn more in regards to the global nurse shortage, visit the International Council of Nurses website at www.inc.ch and on the web site of the World Health Organization at www.who.int.

Author: Karen Innocent, MS, RN, CRNP, ANP-BC, CMSRN