Some nurses have abandoned a workplace where conditions have become harder to endure, with impossibly high patient loads and even a shocking uptick in workplace violence. Others have quit their jobs to become travel nurses, staffing bedsides around the country on a temporary basis, and for as much as triple their usual pay.
But there’s a less visible reason why the current demand for nurses vastly exceeds the supply: Colleges and universities are turning away tens of thousands of qualified aspiring nursing students every year, undercutting numbers in this vitally important profession. In 2020, even as universities expanded enrollment by 6%, they turned away 66,000 qualified applicants for bachelor of nursing programs, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (CNN)
There is also a shortage of qualified instructors and lab equipment.
It’s just less costly for universities to offer lecture classes.
I believe the national shortage of nurses could be described as a crisis.
Something must be done to incentivize universities to graduate more nurses.
If not today, when?
ifnottodaywhen.blog 