Tackling the worsening nursing shortage with technology, training, and transformation

As the aging population increases in Asia, so does the dependency on nurses – especially specialist ones. And yet the shortage of nurses, due to factors such as burnout and increasingly complex care, continues. The key to attracting and retaining nurses cannot lie alone in offering better pay or job redesign, believes Tim Morris, Vice President, Go-to-Market, EMEALAAP, Elsevier.

He supports a holistic strategy and sets out viable options that include having a strong scope of practice with good regulations in place across the different care and nursing roles. While technology can improve nursing efficiencies, it may not reduce the workload enough – Morris explains the need to have a more user-friendly EMR and the importance of integrating care planning to support learning and quality of care. He also reveals ways in which Elsevier solutions, such as Shadow Health®, have successfully helped with continuous professional development.

Despite the role of nurses and the use of technology evolving, one thing remains unchanged: nursing is still about caring and improving outcomes for patients. More must be done to reverse the nursing shortage – the options Morris outlines all have real potential.