5 ways leaders are addressing the nursing crisis

Nurses are in short supply across the nation, with more leaving the profession than joining. Here are five things to know about the staffing crisis and solutions leaders are proposing.

Here are five things to know about the staffing crisis:

1. The number of Florida nursing students who passed the National Council Licensure Examination fell for the third consecutive year, a new report from the Florida Center for Nursing found.
   
   
2. Unless significant efforts are made to increase recruitment and retention, the world is facing a projected shortage of up to 13 million nurses by 2030, according to a 2021 report from the International Council of Nurses.
   
   
3. A recent survey by McKinsey & Company found that 1 in 3 registered nurses who provide direct patient care may quit their jobs in the next year.
   
   
4. Forty-one percent of nurses nationwide do not feel prepared for a future COVID-19 variant, disease surge or other pandemic, an American Nurses Foundation's survey revealed.
   
   
5. Younger nurses report higher rates of stress, worse emotional health, and greater intentions to leave their jobs than their more senior counterparts, according to the ANF survey.

Here are solutions some leaders propose:

1. With staffing shortages poised to continue, those in the healthcare space must continue to rethink strategies to address the issue, Bloomberg editors argue in a Feb. 6 opinion piece, adding that one place to start is by increasing investment in nursing schools.
   
   
2. Kelly Simmons, DNP, RN, a nursing strategist at Assessment Technologies Institute's Nursing Education section, which helps students prepare for nursing examinations, recently detailed three key ways to improve nursing education.
   
   
3. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Jan. 31 signed an executive order aimed at reducing wait times for issuing licenses for professionals across the state, including nurses.
   
   
4. Improving technology is one of three ways a panel of nursing executives from around the country discussed as paths forward for the nursing industry.
   
   
5. Involving nurses in decision-making is one way to combat burnout. Five chief nursing officers offer ways to elevate nurses' voices.