Since the end of the pandemic, the nursing shortage has affected the healthcare industry to a dramatic effect. More than 80,000 nursing school applicants have been denied purely out of a shortage of staff to train them. The demand for nurses is near an all-time high for multiple different reasons, and it is affecting healthcare systems across the United States.
Aging baby boomers and the lasting effects of COVID-19 are just 2 inducements that affect the demand for Registered Nurses. People who were counted as elderly in the workforce (65+) are retiring, moving into retirement homes, or hiring home-care nurses. The number of retirees in this demographic is supposed to almost double from 52 million people to 95 million by 2060. This is going to create a demand that has never been seen before for nurses. Unfortunately, the nursing labor shortage is too great, at the present. That leaves us with an important question to ask: Why are there less nurses in the workforce than ever before?
Low wages, extremely long shifts, and emotional distress are pushing nurses away from working in hospitals and retirement homes. Of course, the most obvious answer to these looming issues is to increase support for nursing staff. Increasing wages will help retain most nurses and higher-level nursing positions. People with advanced degrees are making almost the same wages as those who work under them in the nursing field, so increasing salaries is bound to help bring in new staff, as well as keep the current staff from switching fields or industries. Shift length is only going to get longer with the current situation, so coming up with incentives for nurses to work is key to helping solve this issue. Some of these incentives, besides increasing wages, would be providing therapeutic support, making it easier to become a professional to be able to train incoming nurses, and respecting the essential workers that work these long shifts in deteriorating conditions.
RepuCare has 20+ years of staffing Registered Nurses at healthcare systems located all over the United States. Understanding what clients need and their pain points in their Recruiting Practices helps RepuCare find the best talent that is suited for you. RepuCare has a great track record of retaining employees that are staffed with clients, in fact, Registered Nurses are the number one position RepuCare staffs the most. By retaining quality talent, RepuCare can help fight the nursing shortage that is continuing to be detrimental to healthcare organizations.
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