COVID-19 Pandemic: Surging Demand for Nurses

Senior woman in wheelchair talking to a nurse in a hospital

In recent days, the global pandemic bred by coronavirus is influencing the world viciously. From forcing businesses to shut down to deteriorating the economy across the globe, it has done more harm than any other natural disasters.

For example, our nation has suffered potential losses of RM 12.9 billion in manufacturing sector’s GDP during 14 days of Movement Control Order (MCO) and worse, we faced another potential losses of RM32 billion in exports during the period. (Data retrieved from DOSM and Mida survey March 2020).

While the economy, employment and population are declining, there’s one thing that is rising: The demand for more nurses.

It impacts the healthcare sector when the virus spread across the population and allowing more cases of infection to happen which in turn strikes the current supply of nurses.

If you wish to pursue or are currently taking Bachelor of Nursing, Diploma in Nursing or any related nursing course in Malaysia, please take note as this article will highlight numerous aspects of the issue for you.


An Overview on This Phenomenon

Prior to the virus outbreak, there are already several nursing specialties which are in the rising tide of demand. The demand for nurses is expected to soar greatly by the end of 2020. This indicates that the demand for nurses will soon be greater than the supply to the extent that those who pursue a degree or career in nursing will always get into employment and earn good salary.

Simultaneously, some specialties have a even more tremendous demand than the others. Every year, there is a consistent increase in demand for many of these specialties. This is due to the rapid aging of the population and it opens up more treatment options for all kinds of diseases.

When the outbreak occurs, the demand for nurses is even higher than ever before. According to Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba, he pointed out that the number of professional medical practitioners is currently sufficient for every state but more infectious disease physicians are in demand. At the same time, he emphasizes that the Health Ministry (MOH) will designate 830 nurses to government hospitals across the country to cope with the wild spread of coronavirus. Their designations will boost up the manpower capacity at 135 hospitals nationwide.

As outlined above, more and more nurses are required in order to cope with this pandemic.

Malaysian nurse

So…which are the booming nursing specialties?

According to Nurse Journal, there are 5 specialties which are in high demand. They are nursing anaesthetist, dialysis nurse, legal nurse consultant, nurse midwife and nurse case manager.

Upon reviewing the job description of each nursing specialty, a conclusion can be drawn: nurse case manager is the most in demand among the other four during the coronavirus crisis.


What do nurse case managers do?

When you become a registered nurse (RN) after completing a nursing program and fulfilling the requirements to obtain a nursing license, you can leave a regular nursing job and become a nurse case manager.

The roles of a nurse case manager:

  • Monitor the progress of a patient
  • Evaluate patients’ care
  • Suggest other treatments.
  • Utilize resources and services the best way possible

Their roles are crucial in overcoming this coronavirus crisis as the infected tend to need extra medical care while being hospitalized. In addition, a nurse case manager should also be wise in allocating resources for treatment.

Selecting this nursing specialty allows you to enter the healthcare workforce with minimum entry due to the extremely high demand. However, this career requires high competence and accountability in order to succeed.