Study projects nursing shortage crisis will continue without concerted action

About 100,000 registered nurses left the workforce during the past two years due to stress, burnout and retirements, and another 610,388 reported an intent to leave by 2027, according to a study released by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. 
 
“The pandemic has stressed nurses to leave the workforce and has expedited an intent to leave in the near future, which will become a greater crisis and threaten patient populations if solutions are not enacted immediately,” said Maryann Alexander, NCSBN chief officer of nursing regulation. “There is an urgent opportunity today for health care systems, policymakers, regulators and academic leaders to coalesce and enact solutions that will spur positive systemic evolution to address these challenges and maximize patient protection in care into the future.”
 
Robyn Begley, AHA chief nursing officer and senior vice president of workforce and CEO of AHA’s American Organization for Nursing Leadership affiliate, participated today in a panel discussion of the study findings and proposed solutions at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. 
 
Among other recommendations to strengthen the health care workforce, AHA has urged Congress and the Administration to invest in nursing schools, nurse faculty salaries and hospital training time; enact federal protections for health care workers against violence and intimidation; support apprenticeship programs for nursing assistants; increase funding for the National Health Service Corps and the National Nurse Corps; and support expedition of visas for foreign-trained nurses.