The severe shortage of nurses is an alarming problem that the healthcare system is now dealing with. As a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) with a strong interest in the sector, I started conducting extensive research to fully understand the scope and extent of this issue globally. Exploring various sources, from academic journals to reports from highly regarded health organizations, I uncovered the complex interactions between this crisis and changing demographics, healthcare needs, educational barriers, migration trends, and workplace dynamics. I also used Google Scholar to find additional scholarly articles. The search terms I used that were most successful included “global nursing shortage,” “international nursing shortage,” and “worldwide nursing crisis.” Words like “nurse staffing problems” and “hospital understaffing” returned less relevant results.
I chose these sources because they provided data and analysis on the nursing shortage from an international perspective. Many examined the scope and impact of the need globally or compared strategies across countries. I wanted reputable, recent sources to capture the most current state of this ongoing issue. Most of my selected sources are from peer-reviewed nursing and healthcare journals or reputable organizations like the WHO and ICN.
From my research, I learned the nursing shortage is a widespread problem affecting healthcare systems worldwide. Countries across income levels need to catch up in their nurse workforce. Reasons include aging populations requiring more care, insufficient education/training capacity, unsatisfactory work environments leading nurses to leave the profession, and nurse migration to wealthier countries offering higher salaries. The COVID-19 pandemic also exacerbated workforce shortages. Strategies to address the global nursing shortage include policy changes to improve nurse retention and working conditions and more significant investments in nursing education and training programs.
The most exciting source I read was the Global Strategic Directions for Strengthening Nursing and Midwifery 2016–2020 being implemented in countries. It provided a helpful, extensive picture overview of the role of nurses worldwide as the “backbone of health care delivery,” why shortages pose such a critical challenge, and key focus areas countries should prioritize to build nursing capacity. For example, it recommends improving nurse leadership, advancing nurse roles in practice and policymaking, increasing funding and resources, and enhancing data collection to inform decision-making. The evidence base for national policy changes is strengthened by the tracking and accountability of nations’ pledges to execute nursing and midwifery interventions, as described in the SDNM. The results of this stock-taking can help policymakers and decision-makers make better decisions about how to support the contributions of nurses and midwives in attaining the SDGs and UHC.
This entire process took me about 5 hours. I spent roughly 2 hours searching databases and Google for sources, 2 hours reading through potential articles and studies to select the most relevant, and 1 hour compiling everything into proper MLA citations and writing this reflection. If given a chance in the future, I would start searching library databases before trying a general search engine. The databases returned more credible academic sources. I also learned about helpful search strategies like using wildcards and Boolean operators. I could have found my sources more efficiently with some more initial structure. Overall, I gained valuable practice in developing a research question, carrying out scholarly research, and synthesizing findings related to a global issue, which will benefit me as I write future papers. I discovered connections between nurse retention and various healthcare management, policy, and education topics. Solutions that are similarly cooperative will be needed to address the shortfall.
Works Cited
Agu, Chinwendu F., et al. “COVID‐19 Pandemic Effects on Nursing Education: Looking through the Lens of a Developing Country.” International Nursing Review, vol. 68, no. 2, Jan. 2021, https://doi.org/10.1111/inr.12663.
Ajuebor, Onyema, et al. “Are the Global Strategic Directions for Strengthening Nursing and Midwifery 2016–2020 Being Implemented in Countries? Findings from a Cross-Sectional Analysis.” Human Resources for Health, vol. 17, no. 1, July 2019, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-019-0392-2.
Challinor, Julia M., et al. “Oncology Nursing Workforce: Challenges, Solutions, and Future Strategies.” The Lancet Oncology, vol. 21, no. 12, Dec. 2020, pp. e564–74, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(20)30605-7.
Drennan, Vari M., and Fiona Ross. “Global Nurse Shortages—the Facts, the Impact, and Action for Change.” British Medical Bulletin, vol. 130, no. 1, 2019, pp. 25–37, https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldz014.
Efendi, Ferry, et al. “Concept Analysis of Nurse Retention.” Nursing & Health Sciences, vol. 21, no. 4, July 2019, https://doi.org/10.1111/nhs.12629.
Haryanto, Mickey. “Nursing Shortage.” Orthopaedic Nursing, vol. 38, no. 1, 2019, pp. 1–2, https://doi.org/10.1097/nor.0000000000000535.
Marć, M., et al. “A Nursing Shortage – a Prospect of Global and Local Policies.” International Nursing Review, vol. 66, no. 1, July 2019, pp. 9–16, https://doi.org/10.1111/inr.12473.
Park, Hyunbong, and Soyoung Yu. “Effective Policies for Eliminating Nursing Workforce Shortages: A Systematic Review.” Health Policy and Technology, vol. 8, no. 3, Sept. 2019, pp. 296–303, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hlpt.2019.08.003.
Spencer, S. A., et al. A Health Systems Approach to Critical Care Delivery in Low-Resource Settings: A Narrative Review. July 2023, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-023-07136-2.
Turale, Sue, and Apiradee Nantsupawat. “Clinician Mental Health, Nursing Shortages and the COVID‐19 Pandemic: Crises within Crises.” International Nursing Review, vol. 68, no. 1, Mar. 2021, pp. 12–14, https://doi.org/10.1111/inr.12674.
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