Critical Review Of Nursing Shortage Issue In Canada: A Comparative Study

Analysis of articles on nursing issue in Canada

Focus on current issue in nursing Canada, examine this issue with three kind of media.

Canada is one of the developed countries facing challenges due to shortage of nurses. The registered nurse position comprise one of the job postings from different job position however severe talent gap and low level of education among nurses is a reason for inability to meet high demands in health care setting (MacLean et al., 2014).  Considering the rise in ageing population, the demand for nurses in Canada is rising and there is need to explore in-depth regarding the reason for such shortage of nursing staff. The main thesis statement for this report is critical review of nursing shortage issue in Canada. This discussion has been presented by review of three articles on the topic and finding out important information covered on the topic. It also compares and contrast each article to find out credibility of author and articulate own position on the article.

Summary of articles:

1. Media source:

 The news posted on The Huffington Post Canada presented the issue of nursing shortage in Canada, however the news affirmed that other countries have the worse statistics in terms of nursing workforce shortage.  Finding skilful and talented nurses for the Canadian health care system has become a tough and challenging work. The author warned about the seriousness of the issue by estimation that shortage of nurse could be about 60, 000 by 2022. This news article also gave idea about the reason for nursing shortage by means of discussion on no guarantee of a job in nursing service, strict spending measure of government, cutback and cost cut by government and high stress in the job. Hence, by reviewing the news articles, the factors contributing to the issue can be understood. The issue of stress in the nursing job is relevant because in the situation of workforce shortage, burnout and dissatisfaction with the job will become common issues in Canada. The news article gave useful recommendations to attract more number of people in the nursing profession (Tencer, 2017).

2. Scholarly source:

The research study by Chachula, Myrick & Yonge, (2015) is also a research work in response to the nursing shortage in Canada. It used nursing shortage issue and likelihood of nurses changing their profession within two years as a background to frame research question. Hence, the main aim of the research was to examine the basic psychological process involved in newly-graduate RNs in Western Canada to exit the nursing profession within five years. The Glaserian grounded theory was the theoretical framework used in the study. The author used semi-structured interview method to collect data from nurses and the audio was recorded and transcribed verbatim for data analysis. Open and selective coding strategies were employed to categorize study findings into different themes.

Summary of articles

The study result gave rise to several themes related to reason for RNs to change the nursing profession. These themes included constraints of the health care system and workplace, experiencing fear, stress and challenges, negotiating social relationship and comparing rewards and tensions. Hence, these gave insight into challenges faced by RN  in adapting to workload and coping with the reactivity of the health care system. Working constantly day and night without any break was the reason for dampening spirit in nurses (Chachula, Myrick & Yonge, 2015). Hence, the study had important implication for educational setting, workplace setting and policy makers so that they evaluate RNs experience and create a healthy work environment to retain nurses in Canada.

3. Web site source:

The web site article by Goveia, (2017) gave insight about the challenges faced by nurses at Saint Elizabeth Health care in managing too many task in limited time. Through the review of struggle faced by nurse at the hospital, the article presented the impact of nursing workload issue in Canada. The manager at Ontario based home care organization asked the nurse to take photos of things that hindered their work. The website article gave detail about the images captured by nurses. The pictures showed nurses skipping their breaks, being worried about safety of patient and less engagement with senior management. The survey result was further evaluated by Canadian Healthcare Manager after hosting a round table discussion. The survey was successful in presenting the big picture, which was few staffs and large number of patients in hospital. The article also accepted nursing as a demanding job where their role should be appreciated. However, the survey showed very administrator appreciating the role of nurse. It also revealed that managers were not aware about time crunch issue of nurses thus indicating that nurses are not claiming their overtime. The article mainly suggested shifting to the electronic health record to address nursing workload issue in Canada.

By the review of three different types of article covering the topic of nursing shortage in Canada, one can understand the difference in documentation process of authors. However, while analyzing the article, the first difference found in there sources is the credibility of authors. The credibility of authors can be evaluated by their education, research interest and their past research work. The citation of author’s name in other sources or bibliography is also reflective of the credibility. Hence, among popular media article, journal article and the website article, Chachula, Myrick & Yonge, (2015) are the most credible authors. This can be said because Kathryn Michelle Chachula is main author of the work and has qualification in the master of nursing. Her research is also centered around teaching and learning in nursing education, simulated learning environment and transition experience of newly place nurses and RN entering the workforce (Brandon University 2017).  Hence, from her research interest, the credibility of the work is understood. In contrast, Goveia, (2017) and (Tencer, 2017) are not credible authors because they are reporters and have no formal education or research experience in the field of Nursing. Hence, without any research done with target subjects, their work cannot be considered a credible source. Although Goveia, (2017) covered the nursing workload topic, however it only summarized the result of a survey and did not research on the topic on his own.

Critical analysis of three articles

Documentation is also an important area in articles. Vast difference is seen in online articles and journal articles in terms of documentation. For instance, in case of Chachula, Myrick & Yonge, (2015), the presentation and documentation of work is completely different because it is based on a research work in real setting. Hence, research articles are always presented in the form of clear headings like introduction and background, literature review, study design, methodology, result and conclusion. Such documentation by Chachula, Myrick & Yonge, (2015) clearly gave idea behind the main intention for work and reason behind high rate of exit from nursing profession in Canada.  Moreover, the author’s work and claim was supported by relevant research work to enhance the validity of the content. In contrast, the documentation and presentation style found in Huffington post article and website source is in the form of news reporting with dates and presentation of information in subsequent paragraphs. However, the information provided by Goveia, (2017) and Tencer, (2017) had no reference or citation which one could refer to validate the findings.

While reviewing the three article reporting about nursing shortage issue in Canada, the most critical aspect is to determine whether all the authors presents same fact or disagreement exist between authors. In case of the news article, the main point was that gap in nursing talent and supply of nursing workforce was due to poor security in the job, restrictive regulatory measures, high stress and poor working conditions for nurses (Tencer, 2017). However, his argument is also in agreement with Goveia, (2017) claim as it gave insight into the poor working condition of nurse by giving details about the snapshot captured by nurses. Hence, the factors behind nursing shortage in Canada were understood from the two articles. These two articles were very brief in their information, however key concepts and ideas could be understood. On the other hand, the research work by Chachula, Myrick & Yonge, (2015) is a large piece of work with too many information related to psychology behind nurses exiting the nursing profession. This research gave a contrasting view point regarding the reason for exit of nurse which was not extensively covered in other two sources. It showed that overall environment around nurse such as rewards, motivation, support from colleague, work pressure and level of support determines nurses strategy to leave. Hence, the journal article is useful piece of evidence as gave direction to adapt policy and health care models in Canada that makes work environment favorable for nurses to practice with full abilities.

Conclusion:

My personal opinion regarding the three sources covering nursing shortage issue in Canada is that all have been successful in giving some insight into the methods by which the health care system of Canada can address nursing shortage issue. However, personally I find the journal article most useful as it explore in-depth all factors that forces nurses to leave the job. I agree with the point that providing favorable work environment is necessary to attract and retain more nurses in the profession. Evidence also supports the fact that hospital work environment influence job satisfaction and intention to leave and improving work environment is an effective strategy for better nurse outcome (Zhang et al., 2014). My professional work value of patient safety and my personal value of compassion for human being influences my opinion regarding focusing on changing work environment of nurses. I feel so because a positive work environment will be a motivating factor for nurses to demonstrate better competency and seriousness in maintaining safety of patient. Giving ideal work environment will improve nursing supply as well as quality of care delivered in Canada

References

Brandon University (2017).  Kathryn Chachula | Faculty of Health Studies.  Brandonu.ca. Retrieved 12 December 2017, from https://www.brandonu.ca/health-studies/faculty-and-staff/chachula/

Chachula, K. M., Myrick, F., & Yonge, O. (2015). Letting go: how newly graduated registered nurses in Western Canada decide to exit the nursing profession. Nurse education today, 35(7), 912-918.

Goveia, T. (2017). Comparing Notes on Workload, Patient Care and the Use of IT | Canadian Nurse. Canadian-nurse.com. Retrieved 20 December 2017, from https://www.canadian-nurse.com/articles/issues/2009/april-2009/comparing-notes-on-workload-patient-care-and-the-use-of-it

MacLean, L., Hassmiller, S., Shaffer, F., Rohrbaugh, K., Collier, T., & Fairman, J. (2014). Scale, causes, and implications of the primary care nursing shortage. Annual Review of Public Health, 35, 443-457.

Tencer, D. (2017). Canada Suffering Nurse Shortage, Though Other Countries Have It Worse: Indeed.com. HuffPost Canada. Retrieved 12 December 2017, from https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/05/30/nurse-shortage-canada_n_10208080.html

Zhang, L. F., You, L. M., Liu, K., Zheng, J., Fang, J. B., Lu, M. M., ... & Wu, X. (2014). The association of Chinese hospital work environment with nurse burnout, job satisfaction, and intention to leave. Nursing outlook, 62(2), 128-137.