It is hard to disagree that healthcare is one of the most fundamental and intricate sectors playing a crucial role in people’s lives. Despite the importance of individuals receiving quality medical services, several factors negatively affect healthcare. For example, currently, health policymakers face the need to solve problems like the lack of qualified physicians and nurses, inadequate supply, strong interference of government, and some others.
It is noticeable that researchers pay close attention to studying the aforementioned problems and solutions proposed for them. Thus, in their recent article, Thomas and Nagaraj (2022) state that the lack of human capital is deteriorated by the fact that medical workers are not appropriately supplied with expertise to address the needs of patients. Some offered options are increasing the number of medical graduates and nursing schools; enhancing enrollment limits; reducing entry requirements; raising healthcare workers’ wages; and making nursing education more affordable (Thomas & Nagaraj, 2022). Further, to analyze the situation, demand for healthcare is studied, but there are some limitations because “the classical concept of economic demand may not reflect the biological needs of the population” (Thomas & Nagaraj, 2022, p. 26). Consequently, an integrated approach is required to assess patients’ needs properly and determine the ways to address these needs.
Next, it is also essential to discuss the area of academia. As noticed by the authors, this area faces numerous issues, including the fact that “one-third of the current nursing faculty workforce in all levels of education are expected to retire by 2025” (Thomas & Nagaraj, 2022, p. 27). The latter means that the number of students accepted to universities will decrease drastically. Another issue is that online education is still not the best option for nursing education facilities because distance lessons require more preparation and resources. Finally, the future of nursing is expected to be more positive in case various areas and problems, such as the nursing workforce, education, and leadership, as well as the ones mentioned above, are paid attention to.
To draw a conclusion, one may say that it is indeed of vital importance to introduce some effective changes to the healthcare sector. People need to be healthy, which cannot be achieved without having access to high-quality medical services. Healthcare personnel should also be provided with proper education, high wages, bright perspectives, and expertise. As a result, the aforementioned problems can be eliminated if an integrated approach is used.
Reference
Thomas, G., & Nagaraj, S. (2022). Challenges in the nursing workforce, graduate nursing education, and future of nursing. Virginia Nurses Today, 30(3), 26-27. Web.