WHAT ARE THE COMMON CAUSES OF HOSPITALS BEING UNDERSTAFFED?
While hospital understaffing is not a new phenomenon, some of the causes for the crisis have shifted over the past few years. Before the pandemic, there were nursing shortages due to the dwindling number of people who wanted to pursue nursing as a career. Post-pandemic, some of the causes of hospital understaffing include:
- An increase in the number of senior citizens. The number of senior citizens in the population has increased over the years. As the aging population increases, there becomes a limited amount of hospital staff that can tend to the needs of all elders.
- An increase in the average age of hospital employees. As the number of senior citizens in the population increases, so does the average age of the American worker. People are retiring at later stages in their lives, and even senior citizens are returning to work to make additional income. The average age of a nurse is 50 years old.
A decrease in the number of new nurses. The average age of an American nurse is 50 years old because the number of individuals who choose to pursue nursing as a career has decreased. The small number of people who stay the course and enter the healthcare industry cannot compete with the number of senior citizens in need of quality healthcare.
