Workforce estimate to treat mental disorders in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND: Mental, neurological, and substance abuse (MNS) disorders describe a range of conditions that affect the brain and cause distress or functional impairment. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), MNS disorders make up 10.88 percent of the burden of disease as measured in disability-adjusted life years. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is one of the main providers of mental health services and one of the largest contributors to mental health research in the region. Within the past decade, mental health resources and services has increased. METHODS: We employ a needs-based workforce estimate as a planning exercise to arrive at the total number of psychiatrists, nurses, and psychosocial care providers needed to meet the epidemiological need of mental health conditions of the population of KSA. Estimates for a potential mental health workforce gap were calculated using five steps: Step 1-Quantify target population for priority mental health conditions. Step 2-Identify number of expected cases per year. Step 3-Set target service coverage for each condition. Step 4-Estimate cost-effective health care service resource utilization for each condition. Step 5-Estimate service resources needed for each condition. RESULTS: The planning exercise indicates an epidemiologic need for a total of 17,100 full-time-equivalent (FTE) health care providers to treat priority MNS disorders. KSA appears to have a need-based shortage of 10,400 health workers to treat mental disorders. A total of 100 psychiatrists, 5700 nurses, and 4500 psychosocial care providers would be additionally needed (that is, above and beyond current levels) to address the priority mental health conditions. The shortfall is particularly severe for nurses and psychosocial workers who make up 98.9 percent of the shortfall. This shortage is substantial when compared to other high-income countries. Overall, the workforce needed to treat MNS conditions translates to 49.2 health workers per 100,000 population. CONCLUSION: Challenges to addressing the shortfall are Saudi specific which includes awareness of cultural customs and norms in the medical setting. These challenges are compounded by the lack of Saudi nationals in the mental health workforce. Saudi nationals make up 29.5 percent of the physician workforce and 38.8 percent of the nursing workforce. Policymakers and planners supplement this shortfall with non-Saudi providers, who must be mindful of Saudi-specific cultural considerations. Potential solutions to reducing the shortfall of mental health care workers includes nurse task shifting and training of general practitioners to screen for, and treat, a subset of MNS disorders.

Forecast accuracy of demand for registered nurses and its determinants in South Korea.

BACKGROUND: Despite the significance of demand forecasting accuracy for the registered nurse (RN) workforce, few studies have evaluated past forecasts. PURPOSE: This paper examined the ex post accuracy of past forecasting studies focusing on RN demand and explored its determinants on the accuracy of demand forecasts. METHODS: Data were collected by systematically reviewing national reports or articles on RN demand forecasts. The mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) was measured for forecasting error by comparing the forecast with the actual demand (employed RNs). Nonparametric tests, the Mann‒Whitney test, and the Kruskal‒Wallis test were used to analyze the differences in the MAPE according to the variables, which are methodological and researcher factors. RESULTS: A total of 105 forecast horizons and 196 forecasts were analyzed. The average MAPE of the total forecast horizon was 34.8%. Among the methodological factors, the most common determinant affecting forecast accuracy was the RN productivity assumption. The longer the length of the forecast horizon was, the greater the MAPE was. The longer the length of the data period was, the greater the MAPE was. Moreover, there was no significant difference among the researchers' factors. CONCLUSIONS: To improve demand forecast accuracy, future studies need to accurately measure RN workload and productivity in a manner consistent with the real world.

Understanding the factors associated with nurse employment in clinics: Experiences in Taiwan.

BACKGROUND: The shortage and distribution of nurses affect healthcare access in aging societies. Limited research has explored the nursing workforce in clinics, which is vital for healthcare delivery. This study aimed to investigate the shortage and distribution of nurses in clinics in Taiwan, considering geographical, institutional, and specialty variations. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of the national nursing workforce in Western medicine clinics in Taiwan using open government data. The nursing practice rate (NPR) was calculated. The ratio of clinics employing nurses (RCN) was determined by calculating the percentage of clinics with nurses in each category. A logistic regression model was fitted to examine the factors associated with nurse employment, including urbanization level and different specialty clinics. Adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% CIs were calculated. RESULTS: The study revealed an overall NPR as low as 59.1%, and a decreasing trend with age. Among the 11 706 clinics in the study, nearly a quarter did not employ nurses, with an overall RCN of 72.3%. Urbanization level and clinic specialty were associated with nurse employment ( p < 0.05). After adjusting for urbanization level, the fitted regression model identified the top three specialties as plastic surgery (OR = 11.37, RCN = 96.8%), internal medicine (OR = 1.94, RCN = 84.1%), and orthopedics (OR = 1.89, RCN = 83.6%), while the bottom three were otolaryngology (OR = 0.59, RCN = 61.5%), psychiatry (OR = 0.49, RCN = 57.1%), and rehabilitation medicine (OR = 0.30, RCN = 45.2%). Nurses were more likely to be employed in areas at urbanization level 1 (OR = 1.17), 3 (OR = 1.37), and 6 (OR = 1.48), which represent highly urbanized areas within the urban, suburban, and rural categories, respectively, than in urbanization level 4. CONCLUSION: Clinics in Taiwan showed nursing shortages and maldistribution, with 72.3% RCN and variations based on urbanization and specialty. These factors may be considered in nursing research conducted in other countries to inform future workforce planning.

Factors that contribute to turnover and retention amongst emergency department nurses: A scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Internationally, the emergency nursing workforce shortage is of critical concern. AIM: To synthesise the evidence and assess the scope of literature regarding factors that contribute to turnover and retention amongst emergency nurses. METHOD: A scoping review using the Joanna Briggs Institute approach was undertaken. Fivedatabases (Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Business Source Complete) were searched for papers published in English between January 2011 and June 2023 where the population was nurses, context was the emergency department, and the concept was turnover or retention. A quality appraisal was performed on included studies. RESULTS: A total of 31 articles met the inclusion criteria. Twenty-six studies focussed on turnover and five studies focussed on retention. Factors that contribute to ED nursing turnover included workplace violence, personal aspects (e.g., burnout or depression), organisational characteristics, and environmental/ job characteristics. Factors that contributed to ED nursing retention included mentoring programs, the advancement in nursing skills, and the transition to practice speciality (emergency) programs. CONCLUSIONS: A large body of literature exists regarding ED nurses' reasons for leaving their area of practice, yet limited evidence exist on retention. Research exploring factors that promote retention of emergency nurses that leads to subsequent stability and growth in the emergency nursing workforce is needed.

[Shortage of nurses in Spain: from the global case to particular situation. SESPAS Report 2024]. / Escasez de enfermeras en España: del caso global a la situación particular. Informe SESPAS 2024.

The nursing shortage is a multi-causal phenomenon that affects all countries and currently a global concern. The shortage of nurses jeopardizes the sustainability of health systems and the population health outcomes. Spain has historically had no difficulties in attracting new generations of nurses. The shortage of nurses is caused by the precarious working conditions and lack of professional development that have led to episodes of high international migration and abandonment of the profession. In this paper we focus on the evolution of different indicators of the working conditions of non-specialist nurses, who make up the bulk of the profession. These indicators allow us to analyse the abandonment of the profession, the duration of contracts, their full-time or part-time dedication and the excessive hiring. We have analysed the effect of COVID-19 and the labour reform on these indicators. COVID-19 reduced the abandonment of the profession and is currently at its lowest level, it has also accelerated the need to improve working conditions by increasing the percentage of permanent contracts and reducing the multiplicity of contracts in the same month. The labour reform has helped reduce the percentage of temporary contracts until reaching around 80% of the total contracts, and has reduced the number of nurses in Spain with more than one contract in the same month to below 3000 nurses on a sustained basis.

Addressing the Nursing Workforce Crisis Through Nurse-Physician Collaboration.

This Viewpoint explores root causes of the nurse staffing shortages in the US and proposes solutions that involve physicians.

The impact of rural nursing and midwifery clinical placements from the perspective of health service staff.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the impact of providing nursing and midwifery student placements from the perspective of regional, rural and remote health service staff involved in hosting students. SETTING: Hospital and health services across regional, rural and remote southern Queensland. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-six nursing and midwifery staff working in clinical and/or management roles who were direct clinical supervisors of students or in leadership positions with responsibility for overseeing and supporting clinical placements. DESIGN: Semi-structured interviews exploring the experiences and perspectives of nursing and midwifery health service staff who support student placements. Data were subject to thematic analysis. RESULTS: Five key themes were identified as follows: (a) bringing new ideas and perspectives, (b) opportunities for development, (c) supporting the future rural workforce (d) impacts on workload and productivity and (e) strategies for balancing supervision. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that there are a range of perceived benefits and challenges of providing nursing and midwifery student placements within regional, rural and remote settings. The findings also indicate that there are opportunities to further support rural health services to optimise the positive impacts and mitigate the challenges of providing placements. To do so requires collaboration between health services and education providers to allocate students appropriately to health services and support health service staff.

La situación de la enfermería en la Región de las Américas. Informe final del Foro Regional para el Avance de la Enfermería en América Latina (8 y 9 de septiembre del 2022) / The situation of nursing in the Region of the Americas. Final report of the Regional Forum for the Advancement of Nursing in Latin America (September 8 and 9, 2022)

Los días 8 y 9 de septiembre del 2022, La Organización Panamericana de la Salud, la Federación Panamericana de Profesionales de Enfermería y la Facultad de Enfermería de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia celebraron el Foro Regional para el Avance de la Enfermería en América Latina. El objetivo del encuentro fue fomentar acciones con las asociaciones nacionales, las federaciones de profesionales y los colegios de enfermería dirigidas a avanzar el debate sobre la inversión nacional en los y las profesionales de enfermería y sobre la implantación de la enfermería de práctica avanzada para la atención primaria de salud. En este informe final se recogen los debates e intervenciones de ambas jornadas, así como las conclusiones y los próximos pasos acordados en el foro.(AU)

Black nurse scientists and the undeniable role of historically Black colleges and universities.

The pandemics of COVID-19 and systemic racism highlighted health inequities that have existed for decades among Black communities. Nurses are positioned to address these health inequities through innovative ideas and research. More specifically, Black nurses, because of their shared lived experience, understand sociostructural factors underpinning health inequities and how to best engage with Black communities. However, only 8% of Black nurses make up the overall nursing workforce and far fewer are nurse scientists. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) can offer critically important options for success in addressing the dearth of Black nurse scientists working across sectors and contributing to rich academic milieu, informing innovative national policy, and creating impactful practice. We discuss challenges and strategies to promoting research careers at HBCUs to attract Black nurse scientists as the next leaders in health inequities research.