NIFA

The American Hospital Association (AHA) informs us that, “A talented, qualified, engaged and diverse workforce is the heart of America’s healthcare system.”1 But, American health care continues to face a number of significant challenges to include denials and delays in payments, sustained inflation and critical workforce shortages.1

Often in this column I write on some pretty substantive matters to include recent trends in American health care and research findings pertinent to nurses. That will not be the case this month and you will not find references to recent journal articles in this column. Many of the readers of this publication are likely much like me, an experienced perioperative nurse with many years in the field. A recent conversation with another veteran colleague caused me to reflect on my career and what lies ahead. I would like to share some thoughts here.

This month, I would like to turn to some very recent research on the reasons why health care professionals suffer burnout and leave employment.

In this column, I would like to comment on an article on nurse staffing shortages by Don Sadler published May 1 in OR Today magazine.  My compliments to Mr. Sadler for putting together a very readable article on the important topic of nursing burnout.

I want to address nursing competency with an update on recent developments from the American Board of Nursing Specialties (ABNS) meeting in Alexandria, Virginia.