It’s the winter of 2020; the COVID pandemic is at its worst. You are in the hospital with your  hair a mess and a headache from hell. You keep getting calls about another new patient being admitted to the hospital and it seems to be never ending. The days you once had off are now days you have to go to work; overtime is becoming the new normal. It’s no wonder that it has been national news that a nurse shortage was prevalent during the pandemic and continues to be an issue today. 

Over the next decade, it is expected that one million nurses will retire. In addition, the nurse shortage that has been prevalent since the pandemic has caused issues like enrollment limitation in nursing schools and how many nurses can come out of nursing school. It has even been noted that applicants are being turned away from nursing school because of the lack of medical staff, meaning a lack of teachers and supervisors for these students.

Nurses are some of the most important healthcare providers around the world. They help with making sure that patients are cared for every step of the way and are sometimes the only healthcare providers you see. However, an unstable work environment, stress, and unfair wages are major factors that have pushed an issue that is still as present today as it was during the pandemic, that being nurse and medical staff shortages.

Nurse shortages are caused by burn-out, stress, lack of pay and increasing age. A rough cycle that never ends helps contribute to nurses leaving. With the growing number of older people coming in, it means more healthcare that needs to be provided; however, this can not be done due to the lack of healthcare providers. This has led to changes in the healthcare system to accommodate the lack of staff which has not been a good sign.

Asuscena Razo, a practicing medical assistant for the last four years, has noted some changes in her hospital because of the lack of staff.

“The medical staff to patient ratio was not appropriate to provide efficient care. We ran into problems such as bringing in the wrong patients, lengthy wait time, and no proper staff breaks,” Razo said.

The staff to patient ratio is something that has been noted to be a big issue in the healthcare system due to it being a potential increase in mortality rates and an increase in staff burnout caused by stress. 

It is quite obvious that this would lead to strikes. Even in the state of California where people may assume that nurses would be better off due to the state giving nurses high paying wages, that is not the cause. Razo noted in her community that these strikes still exist and this issue is here in California too.

“At my current job we have now had two locations strike in San Diego. In our Orange County location we are down to one nurse for four offices due to overworking nurses,” she said.

These often being a cause of the same issues that have been stated before. The issue of overworking, lack of pay, an unsuitable working environment.

Unfortunately, this shortage has also caused medical facilities to close down which has been the experience at Razo’s workplace, unfortunately impacting their patients, which is something she wished had not happened.

“We have tried to not have this impact our patients’ treatment, but due to the shortage we have had to close down one clinic and reduce the number of days our three clinics are open. This leaves patients driving 30 to 40 minutes to the closest office that’s open,” Razo said.

These strains and stresses in these systems cause these healthcare providers to feel themselves stretched thin.

Nancy Lopez, a medical assistant for 17 years, also felt this strain.

“I felt overworked, mentally drained and fatigued,” Lopez said.

Even with this strain, which has led many nurses to consider leaving this profession, Lopez decided to stay.

“I stayed working due to less people being hired,” Lopez said.

This shortage is something that can cause major issues for the current future if it is not resolved. Thankfully, there have been some changes to slowly help the problems in the healthcare system like an increased minimum wage. Hopefully, in the future as it comes to light how important these individuals can be recognized and given the support they need to continue their important message of helping others.