Exploring the Causes of Shortage of Nurses: Policy Recommendations & Framework for Nursing Sector of Pakistan

Abstract

Nursing professionals play an important role in managing healthcare facilities and improving public health outcomes, nevertheless, the shortage of nurses has remained a global healthcare challenge. While the prior studies have highlighted various causes pertaining to the shortage of nurses, however, they mostly focused on identifying the challenges, and as such there was little emphasis on recommending practical solutions to those problems. Based on the gaps in the extant literature, the current study not only identifies the key causes related to the shortage of nurses in Pakistan, it additionally explores these challenges from a practical solution perspective. Accordingly, the data were collected using semi-structured interviews that involved various nursing professionals (Practitioners, Instructors, Administrators & Regulators) working in various provinces of the country. The results uncover the main causes of the brain drain within the nursing sector including the overall retention challenges faced to the healthcare organizations of Pakistan. Notably, the factors such as under-staffing, burnouts, inadequate patient-nurse ratio, staff well-being, outdated curriculum and weak nursing policy framework, appeared to be the key contributors of nurses’ shortage and subsequent retention challenges within the nursing sector of Pakistan. This research thus offers a qualitatively-validated framework that highlights the key challenges faced to the nursing professionals coupled with some practical recommendations for enhancing performance, efficiency and retention ratio of the nursing workforce in Pakistan.