The medical field is one of the most stressful lines of work for any employee. With countless lives on the line, and decisions that can completely redirect lives, medical personnel have a lot on their hands.

Over the years, the demand for physicians and nurses has grown significantly as the baby boomer population grows into an age bracket that requires more medical assistance. However, many of the same boomers who were employed as physicians are not leaving the field.

The influx of patients creates a demand for care providers, at the same time, the matriculation rate of doctors has stayed fairly constant. This in turn creates a shortage that will continue growing and is very challenging to resolve.

(The growing shortage of physicians in the US)

Alongside the ever-growing elderly population, there are other elements that affect primary care providers that result in a shortage. For many physicians, the compensation is simply not as appealing as it used to be. With med schools not only being extremely competitive but also labor intensive and consuming years of youthful life, the newer generation seeks to find other employment. In the past, medicine was one of the highest-paying careers, but now, the tech industry has opened up plenty of jobs that pay similar wages, only requiring a bachelor’s degree.

Another factor that affects all medical staff is burnout. Many physicians are forced to take on more patients than ever due to the medical system being constructed on a pay-per-visit/treatment basis. Seeing 10-15 patients a day is no longer a viable way to earn a desirable wage. Alongside that, many hospitals are placing more and more pressure on nurses to work longer and more intense shifts. This then leads to the number one cause of the nurse shortage: burnout.

(A graph depicting current nurses’ opinions)

Burnout is a very serious concern in the medical field. For instance, burnout can greatly increase the likelihood of medical error and can negatively affect the care provided to patients. Burnout, as seen by the graph above, can also deter future nurses from the medical field and cause current nurses to seek out other employment. These two reasons combined make up a significant proportion of the cause of the current shortage.

While this threat may seem fairly mundane, it is definitely not. Hospital staff is already overworked and paced under stress, but the more of a shortage that there is, the more the remaining staff will have to cover. 

This creates a dangerous future, as hospitals and medicine as a whole are vital to society, and without them who knows the chaos that we could spiral into.

 

Henry, Tanya Albert. “The physician shortage crisis is here—and so are bipartisan fixes.” 

               American Medical Association, 6 November 2023, https://www.ama-assn.org                                   Accessed 13 March 2024.

Goodin, Janiszewski. “Nursing Shortage – StatPearls.” NCBI, 13 2 23,                                                           https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov Accessed 13 March 2024.