Addressing Nursing Shortage: The Role of Technology in Offering Solutions
**Addressing the Nursing Shortage: A Multi-Faceted Approach**
The ongoing nursing shortage, exacerbated by the pandemic, is being tackled through a combination of innovative strategies and technological advancements.
One key approach is the expansion of nursing education. This includes funding more faculty positions, expanding training capacity, and offering scholarships or loan forgiveness. Innovative programs, such as fast-tracking for paramedics or overseas-trained nurses, are also being implemented.
Legislative initiatives, like the National Nursing Workforce Center Act, aim to establish state-based nursing workforce centers for research, planning, and strengthening the nursing pipeline. This bipartisan bill supports developing localized solutions to nursing shortages.
Strategic workforce development programs, such as the Aspiring Nurse Program by Chamberlain University and SSM Health, provide education funding, clinical experience, and job placement, serving as scalable solutions to the shortage.
Technologies are significantly impacting nurse workflows, enhancing efficiency, access, and patient care. Telehealth and telesitting allow for remote monitoring and care delivery, reducing the need for in-person visits and improving access to care, especially in rural areas.
Blockchain credentialing streamlines and secures nurse credential verification, reducing administrative burdens and facilitating smoother workforce deployment. Mobile staffing apps help manage staffing needs more effectively, allowing for real-time scheduling adjustments and improving nurse-to-patient ratios.
Staff augmentation, potentially leveraging AI and automation, supports nursing tasks, while AI aids in data analysis, patient monitoring, and decision support tools, enabling nurses to focus on high-priority tasks. Texting/chatbots facilitate communication between nurses, patients, and other healthcare professionals, enhancing efficiency and reducing paperwork.
The demand for nurses and nurse practitioners (NPs) is increasing due to an aging population, workforce, and the strain caused by COVID-19 cases. Nurses and NPs are experiencing growing exhaustion and burnout from over a year of caring for patients in hospitals, clinics, and patients' homes.
The American Nurses Association (ANA) has urged the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary to declare the nurse staffing shortage a national crisis. The ANA has requested working with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on ways to promote payment equity for nursing services and remove unnecessary regulatory barriers.
Tennessee deployed members of the National Guard to help hospitals fill staff shortages amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in August. Better access to mental health counseling and paid time off can help reduce nurse and NP burnout during the pandemic.
Blockchain credentialing allows a nurse's credential data to be stored on multiple servers, making it easier for healthcare organizations to look up a nurse’s credentials and speed up approvals. Telehealth allows nurses and NPs to see more patients in a day and provides a safe way to check in on how patients with COVID-19 are doing.
AI is used in healthcare to make sense of clinical data, identify trends, and improve patient outcomes. Telesitting technologies allow one nurse to monitor several patients using cameras that provide live video and audio.
The U.S. could see an estimated shortage of between 37,800 and 124,000 physicians by 2034. Technologies such as telesitting, telehealth, and blockchain credentialing are helping to alleviate the effects of the nursing shortage by improving efficiencies in daily workflows and patient care.
More federal and state funding is needed for nursing education to mitigate the nursing shortage. The ANA has requested that key stakeholders from all segments of healthcare be convened to address the nursing shortage. These measures, combined with continued advocacy and investment, offer hope for addressing this critical issue and ensuring the delivery of high-quality healthcare to all.
- The integration of technology can help improve healthcare in the context of health-and-wellness and science, as seen in the implementation of telehealth and telesitting, which enable nurses to monitor and care for more patients remotely, particularly in rural areas.
- As a part of the multi-faceted approach to addressing the nursing shortage, legislative initiatives such as the expansion of nursing education could include integrating technology in the curriculum to prepare nurses for the future, combining science, technology, and health-and-wellness in their skillset.
