Executive Summary Senior Human Resource Management should adopt some changes in order to combat the current growing nursing/healthcare personnel shortage. Employees simply want to be heard and sympathized with. Nowadays the nursing shortage has caused many problems in the healthcare industry. First and foremost, the quality of care being provided to patients is declining due to the fact that there are not as many nurses to care for the patient appropriately. As a matter of fact, the workload being dumped on the employees is steadily increasing. Positions below the certification of Registered Nurses are slowly disappearing and those same responsibilities are now given to the registered nurses, In addition to the heavy amount of responsibility that registered nurses already have. We must remember that nurses are humans too and the amount of stress being placed on them increases fatigue, the chances of potential injury and job discontent. Burnout syndrome can be described as long term work stress resulting from the interaction between constant emotional pressure associated with immense interpersonal communication, and involvement along with personal characteristics. The Human Resource Management team has the ability to make the necessary changes to combat the nursing shortage. Rearranging workloads amongst staff members alone would help immensely. The majority of nurses experience burnout from a combination of factors such as age, emotional tiredness, depersonalization in the work area, and a feeling of underachievement being that so many tasks are placed on any one individual. We must remember that illness will always be around. Without the help of Human Resources, the problem of maintaining a healthy patient to nurse ratio will continue to grow. The Human Resource team should look for opportunities to: 1. Increase opportunities for nursing education and provide funding for Nursing Schools. The advancement of new technology in hospitals has heightened the need for specialized nurses, however there is a decrease in supply of nursing students because there is not much faculty in programs. 2. Readily replace baby boomer generation of nurses as they approach retirement. Much of the experienced nursing workforce belongs to the baby boomer generation. Many of which are already either retired or approaching retirement. Without steady supply of new nursing graduates replacing their senior counterparts, the shortage will only continue to grow. 3. Ensure workload is distributed evenly, and ensure that work relationships are healthy. Human Resources must regulate the amount of work that is being placed on the nurses to decrease the levels of stress and fatigue thus limiting burnout. In addition to this, they must construct work environments that are interdisciplinary and build relationships not only between nurses, but also between physicians, other healthcare professionals, patients and their communities. The causes of nursing shortages worldwide are attributed primarily to aging populations, increasing patient acuity, an explosion of knowledge and technology, and the ever- expanding role of nurses (Wolff, Pesut, & Regan, 2010). The lack of training resources, including limitations in budgets, faculty, and facilities have also contributed to the nursing workforce shortage (Solano & Rafferty, 2007). Rosseter (2011) noted the benefits of the following measures for increasing a national supply of nurses: increased government and organizational grants for nursing schools to enlarge student numbers; improved benefits for nurses; creation of healthy work environment; and opportunities for personal development. Millions of people encounter illnesses every day. For some it may be a minor cold and for others it could be a deadly virus. Either way, people turn to the expertise of healthcare professionals, i.e. nurses and doctors to help them get better and past their ailment. But what is one to do if there is not enough supply of these healthcare professionals to treat them? Without the help of healthcare professionals, the lives of many people globally are at risk. The current matter of the nursing shortage has been going on for more than a couple years and only continues to worsen as time goes on and solutions are not made. Many factors including stress, job dissatisfaction, work overload, etc. contribute to this growing issue. This report will focus on these issues and what options there are to help diminish the current nursing and healthcare professional shortage. As of May 2011, the demand for nurses in Texas alone has exceeded the current supply by 22,000. (Brown, 2012). This number is expected to increase to 70,000 if nothing is done to help solve this growing issue. Lowe