By Erin Delaney and Taylor Maag
The COVID-19 crisis put America’s nurses in the national spotlight. Nurses were some of the most essential heroes of the pandemic — working long hours, putting their health at risk and bearing the emotional strains of more than 1 million deaths. Nurses across type and specialty demonstrated a commitment to public health and safety, reminding us of the importance of having a robust nursing workforce across U.S. communities — so that Americans are in good hands when the next public health crisis occurs.
However, that assurance may be far from reality. Currently, the U.S. has a shortage of 100,000 nurses. While this number is small compared to other industries, and the health care industry at large is seeing job growth in recent Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projections, these numbers don’t represent the full picture.
A recent study by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing found that 610,388 nurses say they want to leave the field by 2027. This report found that high workloads and unprecedented levels of burnout from the pandemic have resulted in higher levels of turnover for young nurses and early retirements for those later in their careers. At the same time, the demand for health care services is increasing as the U.S. population ages. BLS projects that employment for registered nursing will grow 6% from 2022 to 2032, or roughly 193,100 jobs per year to meet this demand — equating to about 2 million more nurses. This growth is faster than the average for all other occupations.
This story was originally published in The Messenger on October 8, 2023.
