Miriala Gonzalez, a registered nurse in Miami, carries a monkeypox vaccine. A new survey highlights major concerns from nurses across the country about future hospital staffing levels.
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Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Miriala Gonzalez, a registered nurse in Miami, carries a monkeypox vaccine. A new survey highlights major concerns from nurses across the country about future hospital staffing levels.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Almost a third of nurses across the country say they are likely to leave the profession for another career due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a new survey from AMN Healthcare shows.
This level increased by at least seven points from 2021. And the survey found that the ongoing shortage of nurses is likely to continue for years to come.
About 94% of nurses who who responded to the AMN Healthcare survey said that there was a severe or moderate shortage of nurses in their area, with half saying that the shortage was severe. And about 89% of registered nurses (RNs) he said the nursing shortage is worse than five years ago.
Nurses are not optimistic about the future either. At least 80% of those surveyed expect it to get worse in another five years, the report shows.
Unions representing nurses have been warning about the problem facing the profession, said National Nurses United President Deborah Burger and SEIU Healthcare 1199NW President Jane Hopkins. Both women are also RNs.
“It is a critical moment in our time for nurses. The country needs nurses. We are very short and we are very worried about the future of their work,” said Hopkins.
Nurses, other health care workers and members of the Service Employees International Union unite for better staffing levels at West Hills Hospital on January 12, 2023 in West Hills, California.
Araya Doheny/Getty Images for SEIU
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Araya Doheny/Getty Images for SEIU
Nurses, other health care workers and members of the Service Employees International Union unite for better staffing levels at West Hills Hospital on January 12, 2023 in West Hills, California.
Araya Doheny/Getty Images for SEIU
The COVID-19 pandemic certainly exacerbated the problems, but short staffing was an issue even before then, Burger and Hopkins said.
“The staffing crisis didn’t just happen. It’s been going on for years. Unions have been feeling the alarm that organizations were putting profits before patients,” said Hopkins. Employers “had cut staff so badly, that there was no room for flexibility.”
She said she hears from members that they rarely have time to eat or use the bathroom during their shifts.
Low staffing has a dangerous trickle-down effect, Burger said. This leads to a heavier workload, more stress and burnout for the remaining staff, as well as a negative impact on patient care.
AMN Healthcare survey findings indicated younger generations of nurses were also less satisfied with their jobs compared to their older counterparts.
But even before the pandemic, the younger generation had shown they were done with nursing, Hopkins said. “The first and second year nurses were leaving the profession at a higher rate because it is not what they expected. This escalated during the pandemic,” she said.
Across the generations, a higher percentage of nurses also reported that they are dealing with a greater amount of stress in their work than in previous years, the survey said. Four out of five nurses experience high levels of stress at work — a 16-point increase from 2021.
Similarly, a higher level of nurses reported feeling emotionally drained from the 2021 survey – up at least 15% in two years (62% to 77%).
One source of that stress? Nurses are also experiencing an increasing level of workplace violence in hospitals, Burger said.
“Nurses do not feel safe in many of the hospitals around the country. And we have heard horrible stories. This also ties back into short staffing,” she said.
Nurses have been fighting for better working conditions
This discontent among staff has deeper implications for hospitals and other organizations across the country.
In January, about 7,000 nurses in New York went on strike on a contractual dispute with hospitals in the city. The nurses were looking for higher wages and better working conditions. This strike forced several hospitals to divert patients elsewhere.
Vox reported in January that nurses and other health care workers have often gone on strike in recent years. In 2022, eight of the 25 work stoppages involving 1,000 or more workers in the United States were made by nurses.
National Nurses United has it has issued a number of its own reports and surveys about the current state of the profession, which they have reach similar conclusions to the AMN survey. The union lobbied Congress hard to pass legislation that address staffing ratios and improve safety provisions at the workplace.
The AMN Healthcare survey similarly recommended that healthcare providers create safer work environments and broader regulatory changes to make a meaningful difference.
Burger was more direct.
“Stop studying it and start actually legislating. Congress knows they need to do something,” Burger said.
“It is concerning that there is a lot of hand wringing,” she said, but nothing is being done.
