Shortages in Health Care Workforce

 
Introduction
Workforce shortages in the healthcare industry remain one of the key concerns affecting the efficient delivery of healthcare services. The demand for medical professionals has been steadily increasing over the recent past. This pattern is not expected to change anytime in the near future. The healthcare workforce shortage is attributed to various factors. Some of these factors include a lack of desire, passion, and funds to pursue any healthcare profession. Therefore, this aspect generates tremendous stress for both the available healthcare workforce and the patients who are forced to wait for long periods of time before they receive any form of attention. For instance, the past three years in the healthcare industry have presented various challenges across the world due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In Canada, thousands of people have been visiting healthcare facilities, which intensify the risks healthcare workers face when contracting the coronavirus (Ferguson & Williams, 2020).

Nature of the issue in Canada or globally, prevalence, and impact
The financial requirements that lead to the acquisition of the skill are high and not within the affordability range of most people. It takes longer to be trained in healthcare than many other professions. As a result, this elongated period of time means that the fees will also take longer before they are completed. The learner, in this case, has to allocate various hours on a daily basis to study and establish better chances of passing the course. Healthcare students are sometimes forced to find a part time job to balance their full-time studies to support their families (Ferguson & Williams, 2020). This aspect makes it even more challenging to attain the best possible training for the student would get. The prospect of obtaining student loans to obtain healthcare training to establish a chance to work is not a path that many people are keen to follow.

Moreover, acceptance into the programs in healthcare institutions is a challenging prospect for many individuals. The number of tutors in the institutions is limited, and as a result, the institutions are forced to adjust the number of students they have in their ranks to ensure that quality training is provided. Therefore, despite qualifying on every aspect needed to fit into the course, some applications are rejected. Such patterns increase the levels of despair among the students who work immensely hard to obtain all the pre-requisite grades. Such students opt out of other courses despite healthcare being their more passionate profession.

Additionally, the environment in this industry is often considered stressful. The requirement is that as a medical professional, services are always in demand in healthcare facilities as people often visit as they seek various services. Given that majority of the healthcare facilities are not adequately staffed, the pressure to serve the many patients is high, and this creates a stressful work environment. Healthcare professionals, similar to any other workforce, require adequate rest to refresh themselves. However, this is not the case for most of these institutions. As a result, the tendency to administer poor treatment and other clinical mistakes increases (Sturdivant et al., 2020). Therefore, the prospect of leading a daily career that is highly stressful and often chaotic emanating from the high demand for the services offered by healthcare professionals contributes to the decision by many individuals to shy away from the healthcare industry in pursuit of other better career alternatives.

Required resources
Various resources are required to facilitate the transformation of the healthcare issue. All the stakeholders are essential, including the institutions of higher learning, healthcare employees, and funding institutions, especially on student loans, among others. The success of the transformation is not realized when the stakeholders within the industry work together. Moreover, the time allocated and the funding should be structured in a way that optimum training is obtained and the funds affordable among all the interested students.

Literature on shortages in the healthcare workforce
Effective leaders are essential in ensuring that work is practiced within the required levels. Therefore, for one to be an effective healthcare leader, efficiency in communication is one of the best attributes. Failure to adopt efficient communication it becomes easier to misinterpret key issues, and this leads to confusion. Such patterns cause immense challenges in the workplace because it leads to chaotic work performances. Moreover, healthcare leaders need to have immense listening skills. This attribute ensures that they understand the opinions of their subordinates and work towards making them operational within the facility (Collinson, 2006). The subordinate staff should be in a position to engage in an honest conversation with the healthcare workers. It is this kind of engagement that contributes to attaining the desired changes within the industry.

Additionally, mutual respect between healthcare leaders and their colleagues provides a better avenue to have work accomplished in the desired manner and timeframe. More often, subordinates lose passion for work when they do not receive fair treatment from their superiors. Therefore, through an understanding of both sides, it becomes possible to come to a mutual agreement. The prospect of having effective healthcare leaders in various institutions aids in obtaining solutions to the various challenges experienced in the industry (Domaga?a et al., 2018). Understanding and adapting to the highly-paced work environment, innovative high levels and allowance for different opinions increases the chance to become an effective leader. This aspect contributes to better performance from the other employees.