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Web site spotlight: Nursing shortage strains emergency physicians

Nurse Leader Weekly, July 7, 2008

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The nursing shortage is weighing in on healthcare facilities across the country. As a nurse, this weight may come in the form of a heavier workload, in the amount of exhaustion you experience from picking up too many extra shifts, or in the time you are given to ease into your first job. Whichever the case, as a recent study reports, physicians are feeling the strain as well.

"In the past year, I don't know that I have walked into any particular emergency department where the staff was what I would say happy," says Thomas Foreman, DHCE, MA, MPIA, author of Daniel Stern and Associates first annual survey of emergency medicine physicians. "I see stress at large out there in the delivery system."

A lack of competent nurses in emergency departments (ED) is one of the leading causes of dissatisfaction among emergency room physicians today, according to the study, Trends, Predictions, and Perceptions of Emergency Medicine Physicians.

The national study, conducted in May, drew responses from 777 physicians, and was designed to garner their perceptions of the state of emergency medicine. Almost 100% of the physicians believed emergency medicine is in a crisis they see worsening during the next five years.

Editor's note: This excerpt was adapted from the article, "Nursing shortage strains emergency physicians" featured in The Reading Room on HCPro's new online resource center, www.StrategiesForNurseManagers.com. Get a free trial membership that will give you 30 days to test drive all the exciting features on the Web site.

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