title: Beyond safety and the nursing shortage: a threat to the heart of nursing.
abstract: Patient safety has been the focus of the recent debate regarding the present nursing shortage. Although important, this focus tends to be short sided. Likely, the nursing shortage threatens all aspects of patient care because it threatens the very essence of healthcare. This article briefly describes the current status of the nursing shortage and argues that this shortage is unique in a number of ways and may be leading to what futurists describe as a long-term crisis. A first-person description of nursing is included to further illustrate the threat of the shortage on the heart of patient care. Ethical questions are raised and ideas are presented, including an argument for justifying health care as a special social good.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gallagher
mesh_terms: D004993:Ethics, Nursing; D006801:Humans; D009729:Nursing; D010414:Pennsylvania; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D017751:Safety Management; D014481:United States; D000078329:Workforce; D016526:Workload