The Nursing Crisis; The Solution Lies Within

Essay 1 – The Nursing Crisis; The Solution Lies Within

The author of this proposal essay Michelle Mise Pollard does an extraordinary job in providing the information to support her arguments. She provides clear statistics to support her argument such as “The average age of a nurse is presently between 42–45 and by 2010 nearly 40{0e601fc7fe3603dc36f9ca2f49ef4cd268b5950ef1bbcf1f795cc00e94cdd119} of the nursing workforce will be over the age of 50 and nearing retirement.” This gives the reader a concrete visual of how serious the issue really is. The use of her thesis statement at the very beginning of the proposal gives the reader an idea of what is to come as well as her choice of words indicates there is a sense of urgency needed for the issue. I have a suggestion to add for her thesis statement which would actually include the word “decline”. When I read the thesis “The nursing crisis, in our country, has reached such epidemic proportions that congressional testimony indicates a need for immediate action.” It doesn’t indicate what the crisis actually is and adding the word decline would make it a complete thesis statement. Her use of evidence does turn back to history or past events which give a good comparison to the evolution of the industry and an indicator that the issue can be overcome. When she initially offers her solution, she mentions that there is no tried and true solution to a problem that has been seen before by this profession. When I initially read this, I was put into a negative frame of mind and anything following this statement may not work or be a viable solution. Michelle also clearly indicates how this would impact the reader directly or its implication by providing the scope of her audience such as “anyone who is a provider or consumer of healthcare in this country.”