COVID-19 Has Magnified The Impending Nursing Shortage

Anyone who has spent any time in a hospital knows just how invaluable nurses are. They administer medications to patients, monitor their vital signs and even just spend time with them, helping calm frayed nerves.

Marcie Rutherford, Ph.D., M.B.A., M.S.N., R.N., Dean, NSU’s Ron and Kathy Assaf College of Nursing

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the role nurses play has been amplified significantly – they are on the front lines caring for our nation’s critically ill. It’s clear that without nurses, our health care system would come to a grinding halt.

While we take time to thank and appreciate those health care workers who are risking their own health to take care of others, there’s a looming crisis on the horizon – something many in the profession have known about and have been trying to address for years. We’re facing a critical shortage of nurses that threatens the ability of the health care system to function.

This crisis has flown under the radar because, let’s be honest, unless you or a loved one had a health issue, nurses didn’t really concern you. But with the advent of COVID-19, we all now see just how important nurses are, and just how dangerous it would be if our country continued down the path of the nursing shortage.

Looking at the most recent projections, there could be a need for an additional 500,000 nurses in the U.S. And if you take a deeper dive into that number, you’ll see that the shortage will not be the same across the nation – some states will be harder hit than others.

According to the Florida Center for Nursing June 2020 report, 35,000 (16.3%) registered nurses (RN) and 3,700 (13.4%) of advanced practice registered nurses (APRN) are over the age of 60 and may begin phasing into retirement during the next 5 to 10 years. These departures of highly trained, educated and experienced nurses will come at a critical point as Florida’s boomer population continues to age and needs more advanced care.

Along with those who will be retiring is a group of nurses who are simply getting burned out due to the stress of the job, which has been brought to a whole new level with the pandemic. Given the fact we were already facing a nursing shortage prior to COVID-19, the pandemic has the chance to exacerbate the problem.

When Intensive Care Units across South Florida started reaching capacity due to the pandemic, the weight was carried by nurses who risked their own health to care for those on the hospital floor. We’ve seen the online videos of nurses breaking down after a very long day, crying because of what they are seeing and experiencing.

The turnover in this profession is high due to this and other stressors. How can we, as educators, develop confident, caring and capable nurses when this is their reality? How do we continue to extoll a career in health care with such a grim outlook?

First we need to be there for these nurses to ensure their physical and emotional health through support and resources. Many health care organizations are working to implement support networks to help nurses deal with the rigors of the profession. While this is a good first step, more is needed. We must ensure we care for our caregivers.

At the educational level, colleges and universities must do a better job preparing today’s students to be tomorrow’s nurses. At NSU Florida, we aren’t just creating nurses, we’re providing students with an edge, a fully-rounded educational experience so they can best deal with the stress the job brings. We owe it to them so they can be the best they can be when working with patients.

Those who begin a journey on the educational path to nursing do so because they inherently desire to help others. They want to be a caretaker, ensuring the health of our loved ones. It is our duty and our calling as educators who have practiced in this profession to prepare them academically, experientially and emotionally so as the next generation of care-givers, they are fully prepared.

 

Nova Southeastern University fully supports an individual’s right to express their viewpoint and opinions. The views expressed in this guest editorial are that of Marcie Rutherford, Ph.D., M.B.A., M.S.N., R.N., dean of the Ron and Kathy Assaf College of Nursing and are not necessarily those of NSU, its President or Board of Trustees.

 

Joe Donzelli