Answer

15^th April, 2021.

The Honorable Eric Garcetti,

Mayor of Los Angeles,

14410 Sylvan Street #211.

Van Nuys, CA.

Dear Mayor Garcetti

I am writing on behalf of myself and my fellow APRN nurses in Los Angeles County. We are tremendously concerned with the issue of the nursing shortage currently affecting the United States. Our concern is that the nursing system has not yet found a sustainable solution to address the issue and that it continues to accelerate as new adversities arise. 

The nursing shortage is influenced by multiple factors, including lagging salaries, expensive nursing tuition fees, and aging nurse workforces (Haddad et al, 2020). In the hospital I work with, we are currently facing a shortage of APNs due to supply and demand issues. One cause for the shortage is that most existing APNs are baby boomers, retiring from the profession. The millennial nurses claim that they would be willing to advance their practice if they could afford the tuition fee. Lagging of nursing salaries, pending loans, and an oppressing economy create more than enough barriers from accessing advanced education. Only a few get lucky by receiving education grants and scholarships from professional organizations or non-government institutions. 

Another arising issue related to the nursing shortage is the evolution of new arenas for practice and technologies. Advanced nursing practice has transformed, introducing new opportunities for advancing nurses to venture. Further technology advancement and increased patient acuity have further made the nursing practice more demanding and complex.

Over the years, the health care system has addressed the nursing shortage by hiring nurses abroad (Staff Writers, 2021). Regardless, this only solves a minute percentage of the issue. In my opinion, I would highly advocate for the government to adopt a more sustainable approach that involves supporting its existing nurse workforce to achieve advanced practice with ease. By this, I mean creating incentive programs to draw more nurses into advanced practice. The incentives can be in the form of a raise in pay, higher education scholarships, and research grants. 

Therefore, as the mayor, it is my humble request that you play an active role in addressing the nursing shortage. You could exercise your political power to influence more favorable policies that will promote the advanced nursing practice. Also, I believe that an increase in the advanced nursing salaries could be a great way to encourage nursing practitioners to acquire advanced education. Also, regarding retiring nurses, I would suggest that you find a way to extend their practice if they feel that they are fit for the job. Los Angeles could benefit from their services as we wait for the junior nurses to graduate. Lastly, if there was a way in which nursing tuition fees could be regulated, the profession could attract more interesting students into the course. A suggestion will be if the government intervenes to waiver a percentage amount of the fee for any nursing advance course or to provide educational waivers for state-employed nurses.

The nursing shortage is an endemic issue that demands sustainable solutions. Two ways to address the issue is through policy implementation and incentives. I believe that you have the means and power to influence both policies and incentives that support nursing practice. I hope that my writing highlights the complexity of the nursing shortage issue and the need for immediate action.

I appreciate all that you have done for the city, and I look forward to seeing a positive transformation. Thank you. 

Yours sincerely,

[Students name]