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Nursing students are being fast-tracked in response to COVID-19

There was already a shortage of nurses, a job that pays more than the national average income
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No doubt our nation’s health care workers—nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals—are stretched beyond their limits.

COVID-19 has highlighted a critical shortage of health care workers. In no field is the unmet demand more acute than in the nursing field.

Nurses are Already in Short Supply

Even before the global health crisis, the alarm was being sounded: we need more nurses.

Employment of registered nurses is projected to grow 12 percent from 2018 to 2028, much faster than the average for all occupations, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. BLS data projects, on average, about 210,400 RN openings annually over the decade.

Additionally, the demand for licensed practical nurses (LPN) is expected to grow by 11 percent. Nursing assistant jobs are expected grow by at least nine percent over the same time frame.

“We have a shortage of nurses now, and this has been also historic,” Dr. Hala Sabry, an emergency medicine physician, tells WorkingNation. “This is going to be really important because although one doctor can treat a number of patients, we do have recommendations for caps on the number of patients for nurses.”

“It’s really impossible for nurses to follow as many patients as we’re following because they’re completing a lot of tasks. They are stretched to the max, often seeing more than four patients at a time, and that’s just not sustainable,” she says.

“They have the most contact with these patients so they’re most likely to get sick as well. When those nurses who are on the front lines with us are getting sick, we need backup nurses.”

Pre-pandemic, the existing factors for the shortage included an increasing aging population that needs greater care, more cases of chronic diseases, and the limited capacity of education programs.

According to a survey conducted by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing and The Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers, 50.9 percent of the RN workforce is age 50 or older, meaning they could retire in the next 10 to 15 years.

This in-demand job pays above the national average income of $48,672 in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.. The salary for a registered nurse ranges from $113,240 a year in California to $59,540 a year in South Dakota, according to pay figures compiled by Nursing.org.

Working Across State Lines Provides Opportunity

The enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact (eNLC)—implemented in January 2018—makes it easier for travel nurses to work across state lines. The compact was coordinated by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN). The concept of a travel nursing assignment was created in response to the shortage of nurses. These temporary assignments are mainly performed in hospitals.

More than 30 states have enacted the eNLC . There are other states with pending legislation including Alabama, Massachusetts, Michigan, Vermont, Minnesota, Illinois, Louisiana, New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.

Fast-tracking Nursing Students

Some nursing schools accelerated graduation plans in response to COVID-19.

The College of Nursing at Texas A&M University told seniors in March they had the option to choose an early conferral of their degree. Gov. Greg Abbott had announced the waiving of certain regulations to allow nursing students close to graduating, as well as retired nurses to more easily join the workforce.

In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order in March to temporarily expand the workforce to staff the increased number of hospital beds. The order—which recruits retired health care workers along with medical and nursing students—waives certain professional licensing and certification requirements in order to get workers in the field faster. There are an estimated 37,000 people who are eligible to participate.

Higher Education and Online Learning

A decade ago, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) offered its recommendations to address challenges being faced by nurses. One of its key recommendations—which encourages continued learning—suggested increasing the percentage of workers obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree from 50 to 80 percent over a ten-year period.

In 2018, New York became the first state to pass a law requiring nurses to earn a BSN within ten years of becoming licensed. Other states have plans to adopt similar legislation.

Some schools are addressing the call by offering online advanced learning options. Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania offers 9 online nursing degrees and certificates.

The National League of Nursing found technology supports learning.

  • 82.9 percent of nursing students say technology enhances their learning
  • 65 percent of nursing education programs use virtual simulation
  • 84 percent use instructional videos for skills enhancement
  • 75 percent utilize online or distance learning

Duquesne University touts forward-thinking learning. “Innovations in online learning, technology, and teaching methods have revolutionized nursing education. These changes have allowed nursing students to continue their career and family demands while pursuing advanced health care degrees. At the same time, nurse educators have even greater flexibility in teaching options.”

Celebrating Nurses

The American Nursing Association has designated May National Nurses Month in recognition of the work being done by our nation’s front line nurses.

WorkingNation would like to take this moment to celebrate the women and men who are working in our hospitals, clinics, and private care facilities to battle COVID-19, and to honor them for the good work they do to keep our communities healthy year-round.

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Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.