Scholarly Paper Outline: What are the contributing factors to the current nursing shortage in acute care hospital units in Canada/US?

This assignment assists students with planning and organizing their ideas for their scholarly paper (see instructions below).
 Submit a 1-2 page proposal (excluding reference page) of your scholarly paper explaining the main theoretical or empirical question(s) that you plan to research, how you will go about doing that (what
kind of methods, what kind of literature, etc.), and a brief outline of your paper. Papers beyond the page limit will not be read, and will be penalized.(Nursing shortage in acute care hospital units in Canada)
 Provide an appended reference list of at least 5 recent (≤ 5 years) peer reviewed sources.
 All papers should be double spaced, with TNR 12” font, one-inch margins and include page numbers.
 Papers must use APA format (6th or 7th ed.).
 Submit paper outline to Assignments by the due date/time.

Nursing shortage in acute care hospital units in Canada:Solution

Scholarly Paper Outline

Nurses are critical in healthcare delivery and constitute the most extensive section of healthcare professionals. The nursing shortage is a multifaceted issue globally and in the USA, with no single conclusive determinant factor (Khan et al., 2019). The outcome of nurse shortage influences the quality of patient care and the costs of healthcare services. Therefore, the paper presents a proposed research study on the contributing factors to the nurse shortage in the USA. The proposal outline constitutes the study background, literature review, research question, methodology, and proposed outcomes.(Nursing shortage in acute care hospital units in Canada)

Background

Various have been conducted concerning the nurse shortage in the USA. Nurse shortage is a critical issue worth further research. Acute care settings are primarily affected because of their vulnerability to recruiting and retaining nursing staff (Khan et al., 2019). Most studies reviewed dwelled on nurse turnover as a significant determinant of nurse shortage. However, studies exploring nurse managers’ perceptions of nurse shortage in critical care areas are limited. Therefore, conducting research in such a neglected area will provide additional insight into the determinants of nurse shortage.(Nursing shortage in acute care hospital units in Canada)

Literature Review

Butler & Johnson (2019) conducted a multi-year analysis on determinants of nurse turnover. They found that family concerns are the most critical determinants of nurse turnover. Other factors such as stress, salary and benefits, job illness, and dissatisfaction contribute to high turnover rates. Halter et al. (2017) found that job stress, dissatisfaction, nurse leadership, and supervisory style are significant determinants of nurse turnover. Nakweenda et al. (2022) nurse shortage is influenced by a high nurse-patient ratio that causes high workload and consequent dissatisfaction. Yeager & Wisniewski (2017) highlighted the lack of employee autonomy and inflexible work schedules as determinants of the recruitment and retention of nurses. Khan et al. (2019) showed that stressful/traumatic work environments, work relationships, and workplace quality are determinants of nurse retention in acute care settings.(Nursing shortage in acute care hospital units in Canada)

Research Question

The researcher proposed to answer the research question: what are the contributing factors to the current nursing shortage in acute care hospital units in the USA? The reviewed literature has focused on the aging population, high turnover, inequitable work distribution, and the minimal number of graduating nurses. However, there is no exclusive study evaluating nurse managers’ perspectives on nursing shortages in the USA.(Nursing shortage in acute care hospital units in Canada)

Methodology

There is no exclusive research study evaluating the nurse managers’ perspectives on the nursing shortage in the USA. In this section, the researcher describes the proposed research design methods, sample population, and data analysis approach. A qualitative study design will be adopted for the study. Qualitative research is ideal for evaluating an unfolding context, individual’s opinions, and experiences relating to a given issue (Hennink et al., 2020). Eight nurse managers will be recruited across acute care hospitals in the USA through purposing sampling. Purposive sampling allows researchers to select participants based on a particular characteristic, including knowledge and experience on a given issue. Data will be collected using semi-structured open-ended questionnaires as lead questions during a face-to-face interview. The data will be transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis.(Nursing shortage in acute care hospital units in Canada)

Proposed Outcomes and Clinical Implications

The researcher will report nurse managers’ perception of nurse shortage in acute care settings. From a leadership perspective, the perceptions will outline crucial determinants and drivers of nurse shortage in critical settings. The outcome will be crucial in informing policies and strategies for nurse managers in recruiting and retaining nurses within their units/facilities. Moreover, it will contribute to the literature exploring determinants of nurse shortage in acute care practice. (Nursing shortage in acute care hospital units in Canada)

References

Butler, R. J., & Johnson, W. G. (2020). The determinants of nursing turnover: A multi-year analysis. Medical Research Archives, 8(6). https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v8i6.2144

Halter, M., Boiko, O., Pelone, F., Beighton, C., Harris, R., Gale, J., … & Drennan, V. (2017). The determinants and consequences of adult nursing staff turnover: a systematic review of systematic reviews. BMC Health Services Research, 17(1), 1-20.(Nursing shortage in acute care hospital units in Canada) https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-017-2707-0

Hennink, M., Hutter, I., & Bailey, A. (2020). Qualitative research methods. Sage.(Nursing shortage in acute care hospital units in Canada)

Khan, N., Jackson, D., Stayt, L., & Walthall, H. (2019). Factors influencing nurses’ intentions to leave adult critical care settings. Nursing in Critical Care, 24(1), 24-32. https://doi.org/10.1111/nicc.12348

Nakweenda, M., Anthonie, R., & van der Heever, M. (2022). Staff shortages in critical care units: critical care nurses experiences. International Journal of Africa Nursing Sciences, 100412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijans.2022.100412

Yeager, V. A., & Wisniewski, J. M. (2017). Factors that influence the recruitment and retention of nurses in public health agencies. Public Health Reports, 132(5), 556-562. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0033354917719704