Issue Paper Guidelines
1) Evidence suggests that there is a nursing shortage. Based on this evidence why do you feel there is a nursing shortage?
2) How do you know there is a nursing shortage?
3) How do you feel the nursing shortage is affecting patients?
4) How is the nursing shortage affecting practicing nurses?
5) What do you believe is being done to alleviate the nursing shortage? Please use at least 5 PEER reviewed nursing journals.

Purpose: To better understand issues that affect your professional nursing practice.
This assignment provides students the opportunity to identify a current problem or issue in health care management, health care legislation, or professional nursing practice to explore in depth.

Directions:
• Write a 6 -8 page academic paper using APA style
• Identify an issue related to any of the management, leadership, policy, or professional practice concepts addressed this term.
• Integrate information and evidence from a minimum of 3 current peer-reviewed, professional journal articles related to this issue
o Published in the last 5 years
o Peer reviewed
o Academic, NOT clinical, resources
• Meet with a nurse expert, preferably with a Master’s Degree or PhD who has experience with this issue in a health care organization.
o Prepare 5-7 open-ended interview questions
o With permission, interview this person using the interview questions you have prepared
o Discuss the relationship of the issue you are investigating to the organization in which the above nurse practices.
• Integrate the information from your research and your interview into your paper
• Speculate upon the future impact of the issue on health care or your nursing practice

Timeline:
• Submit your topic to Blackboard for approval by midnight on Wednesday, March 11
• Submit interview questions to Blackboard for approval by midnight on Wednesday, March 18
• Submit your final paper to Blackboard by midnight on Sunday, April 12

The paper should include the following:
• Introduction
o What are you going to write about?
o Clear statement of the purpose of the paper
• Overview of the main issue or concept
o What is it? How is it defined?
o What is important background information for your readers?
o What is important history about this issue?
o Convince the reader this is an important issue for nursing
• Body – this is the ‘meat’ of your paper
o Be sure to organize the paragraphs that make up the body of your paper in a logical and clear way
o Each paragraph should flow one to the next using transitions
o Ideas should flow logically from one paragraph to the next
o Integrate information from articles and the interview to help the reader understand how this issue relates to nursing
o Assimilate what you have learned to speculate on the impact of this issue on the future of professional nursing and patient care
• Conclusion
o Summarize main points
o Clear and concise statement that synthesizes the importance of this issue related to professional nursing practice and the implications for the future