Nursing research
-
Balancing the development of cultures of safety with nursing workforce challenges is similar to navigating the perfect storm. The perfect storm is characterized as a tempest of extreme intensity that happens rarely, maybe once every 100 years, as a result of multiple factors that end in a situation worse than people have ever seen. Such a storm is currently evident when attempting to ensure patient safety while being confronted with a shortage of nurses and nursing faculty unlike any other shortage experienced in over a number of decades. ⋯ The perfect storm is created because of the existence of a steadily worsening shortage of nurses and nursing faculty. Multiple factors have converged to develop and sustain such a shortage. A blueprint for healthcare organizations is proposed, with examples of numerous innovative strategies that are being developed and studied for handling the major challenges posed by this perfect storm.