The nursing shortage as a community transformational opportunity: an update

In the 2002 original work discussing some of our professional issues that have contributed to the current nursing shortage, I concluded that until the profession examines and addresses some of the troublesome and paradoxical areas of our workplaces, we will continue to remain locked in our current cyclical strange loop of nursing shortages and a dissatisfied nursing working force. While the nursing shortage seems to have taken on a new context, given current global economic issues and healthcare reformation efforts, many of the professional issues I addressed in my original article remain pertinent to our professional growth and the future of an autonomous workforce of nurses. In this article, the writer will briefly review the current literature around the nursing shortage, reexplore our own role in contributing to the cyclical or strange loop shortage of professional nurses, and further discuss possible solutions for the growth of nursing as a profession. The aim of this article is to explore how we can address our professional identity issues in ways that will serve to manage the current challenges we face of attracting and retaining a stable workforce.