Nursing Shortage: An Economic Overview Thesis

Institutions may have to devote more resources to improving the workplace for nurses, and make cutbacks in other areas, so patient care is not compromised.

Addressing the nursing deficit from the perspective of nursing schools, rather than simply offering more money to nursing has been one strategy deployed by the state of Florida. For example, nursing colleges and universities in Florida have worked to form strategic partnerships with private insurance companies like Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida. This company donated $600,000 to both the University of North Florida and the University of Florida for nursing education, a sum that was matched by the State of Florida by $420,000 at each school. This illustrates yet another fundamental principle of economics, that of principle seven, that government can sometimes improve market outcomes through intervention (Mankiw, 2004). By infusing more financial capital into nursing education, more nurses can be served by the university system. Greater numbers of better-educated, younger graduates will increase the supply of available nurses and fill the necessary slots in healthcare settings, hopefully reducing the burdens on current nurses. The quality of life will increase for nurses, meaning that fewer nurses will leave the profession. Also, hospitals will be less financially strapped. They will not have to pay current nursing staff members more overtime and offer higher incentive bonuses, if the market has a larger population of nurses.

In short, the government has an interest in improving the health of all of its residents. A state where individuals fear entering the hospital system is unsafe and costs the system more in terms of the extra care required to make up for medical errors, as well as a lack of preventative care in general. Better-educated nurses make fewer errors, and nurses who do not have to work excessively long hours are more able to devote quality time and resources to patients. Time is scarce, and resources are finite, to refer once again to the first principle of economics. As a single nurse cannot be everywhere at once. Spreading nursing resources too thin amongst available nurses results in a compromise of overall patient care. This is why it is essential that the demand for nurses not be allowed to rapidly exceed the supply in the coming years.

Other initiatives that can be taken to increase the number of nurses, in areas where there are not enough qualified candidates for nursing programs include increased scholarship amounts, increased representation of schools to recruit individuals to the profession, as well as more attractive financial incentive programs on the part of hospitals, such as tuition remissions. State loan forgiveness programs for graduates that begin their employment in places of extreme need are another potential way to increase the nursing population in underserved areas.

Works Cited

Mankiw, N.G. (2004). Principles of economics (3rd ed.). Chicago, IL: Thomson South-Western.

Rosseter, Robert. (2008). Nursing Shortage. American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Retrieved…