Nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Nursing - Essay Example Nurse salaries are the major problem for some institutions along with benefits and intangible income. Moreover, medical costs and for profit health care have been increasing for the past decade. This accounts for other issues of nursing shortage such as nursing care, level of accident rations, and arguments between organizations and unions based on profits and salary increase. This decreased the nurse-patient ratio, which greatly affected the quality of care.1 The crisis of nursing employment became evident from the 1992-2000 surveys of the National Sample Surveys of Registered Nurses.2 Private and public sectors already contributed their observations regarding this matter. Moreover, some private companies have carried out actions to increase the nursing employment. For instance, Johnson and Johnson Health Care Systems have promoted a $20 million Campaign for Nursing Future. This program comprises of television ads, promotional materials among high school students, and a web site that exhibits programs among those aspiring for a nursing career. On the other hand, the public sector also contributed their share in promoting the nursing career such as congressional hearings and federal legislation proposing improvements in basic nursing education.3 Many factors are contributors to nursing shortage. One factor is underemployment. Many nursing graduates spend their career at another field instead of nursing. According to the National Sample Surveys of RN (2000), 71-73 percent of Registered Nurses were not working in the medical field and others have undergone retirement. Usually, these Registered Nurses had their reasons why they chose to work on another field instead of nursing, including better hours, more rewarding work, and of course, better salary.4 A next factor is the employment pattern on nursing. The gender issue presents itself conspicuously, as men who graduated as