As many as 1 million nursing jobs will be unfilled in the U.S. within eight years, but important strategies can help reduce those figures, according to a published report.
Older, sicker patients can be adequately cared for and receive proper treatment should nursing schools, employers within the healthcare industry and technology innovators merge their efforts to tackle the issue and close the gap of the nursing shortage, according to panelists convened by the Apollo Research Institute. The institute also assembled a report with the recommendations.
One major factor that the panelists pointed to is a lack of nursing faculty. Students with aspirations of being nurses are being compelled to enter waitlists at various nursing schools. At the same time, nurses presently working the profession are unable to continue advancing in their academic pursuits due to this shortage.
The panelists also noted the nursing technology is moving forward at a very rapid clip but that never should displace the personal touch that nurses have developed over the years.
Increased amounts of outpatient services are likely to arise, as are more frequent diagnoses of elderly patients with cancer, according to panelists.