Nurses and caregivers - Professional shortages

Aging America facing a health care professionals crisis

Echo opinion by Gene Budig and Alan Heaps published in the Colorado Springs newspaper "The Gazette"

America is aging rapidly. The numbers tell the story: 50 million people 65 or older in 2015 (15 percent of the population); 70 million in 2030 (20 percent of the population); and 100 million in 2060 (25 percent of the population).

This demographic shift brings with it many changes. Voting patterns, consumer spending, economic productivity, workforce availability and government programs are all being impacted.

Over time these, in turn, will reshape many of the nation’s institutions and priorities.

Health care is one of the major impacted areas. The reason is obvious: demand for medical services will increase because old people have more physical problems. For example, 80 percent of older adults have at least one chronic disease, and 68 percent have at least two.

But quality expansion of health care will not be easy.

The current system is a large (13 million employees) Byzantine web that includes, but is not limited to, medical practitioners (doctors, home health care and emergency medical workers, nurses, technicians), government officials, hospital administrators, drug and medical device manufacturers, insurance companies, lobbyists and researchers.

Standing at the center of this complex enterprise are the nation’s three million nurses. Their importance cannot overstated. They:

• Are the largest segment of the health care workforce;
• Play pivotal roles in hospitals, ambulatory settings, health centers, homes, long-term facilities and schools;
• Contribute in many critical ways including direct care, patient advocacy, research and policy making;
• Are directly responsible for much of the confidence in the health care system. (For 16 years in a row, nursing has been rated as the profession with the highest honesty and ethical standards. More than 80 percent of the public rate nurses in the high or very high categories. Lobbyists bring up the rear with an 8 percent approval rating.)

Yet the profession is in crisis.

By 2024, it is estimated that the nation will have one million unfilled registered nurse positions. While part of the shortage is caused by the increase in nursing jobs, other factors include an aging nurse workforce (more than half of registered nurses are 50 years or older) and dissatisfaction with the profession due to overwork, stress, bureaucracy and lack of confidence in leadership.

The solutions to the problem are varied and complex. They include recruitment, compensation, working conditions, and professional and leadership development.

But there are two simple facts of which we can be sure: without an effective national strategy to fill this gap, our health care system will be crippled.

But all this must be driven by an acknowledgement of the central role nurses play in practice and in policy.

Our interest in health care and the role of nurses is partly driven by concern for America’s welfare and happiness. But there is a more personal reason as well. A recent illness brought one of us into close contact with our medical professionals. This first-hand experience made it obvious that our individual and communal health being depends on the great work of our nation’s nurses.

So this column is not only about national well-being but also a thanks for their fine work.

Gene Budig is past president/chancellor of three state universities (Kansas, West Virginia and Illinois) and a former president of baseball’s American League. Alan Heaps is a former vice president of The College Board in New York City.