Nursing Shortage by Jasmine

Nursing Shortage by Jasmine - October 2026 Scholarship Essay

Last year, in my Public Health Leadership class, I completed a paper and presentation on nursing shortages in the United States. This project allowed me to explore and better understand the history of nursing and its importance to healthcare. For example, I learned about Florence Nightingale, a pioneer of modern nursing in the 19th century, who emphasized looking beyond a person's disease to understand the whole person. Through this project, I also learned about the nursing workforce and the challenges contributing to nursing shortages. These challenges include an aging population, increased burnout, and emotional and physical abuse in the workplace. I also explored data on the nursing workforce and the projected need for additional nurses to address gaps in patient care.Working in healthcare has allowed me to witness nursing burnout and strikes firsthand. Connecting what I learned through my research with what I observe in the workplace helped me understand how nursing shortages affect everyone. Individuals and families depend on nurses to receive adequate healthcare, and when hospitals lack sufficient staff, both patients and healthcare professionals can be affected.
This project also encouraged me to think about the importance of fair compensation, supportive work environments, and prioritizing mental health in healthcare. Nurses work long shifts to support patients, but their own well-being must also be considered. I learned that addressing nursing shortages requires more than recruiting additional nurses; it also requires examining the workplace conditions and policies that affect their ability to remain in the profession. Overall, this academic project sparked my curiosity about healthcare workforce challenges and strengthened my interest in understanding how healthcare policies affect professionals, patients, and communities.