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USA Nursing Shortage

The recent pandemic and rapid evolution of new diseases have brought a crisis in the health care field all around the globe. With the increasing patient flow and hurdling of patients in emergency and critical units has created a shortage of human resources, including Nurses.

In the United States, There are 5,252,526 active registered nurses. However, The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects (as cited in Berlin et al., 2022)194,500 average annual openings for registered nurses between 2020 and 2030, with employment projected to grow by 9%. According to the  National Council of State Boards of  Nursing and National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers’ national survey of the US nursing workforce (as cited in Berlin et al., 2022), the median age of RNs in 2020 was 52 years with more than one-fifth indicating intent to retire from nursing over the next 5 years. The rise in cases of COVID-19, Monkey Pox illness, and other viral/ infectious diseases have accelerated this trend. The demand and supply of nurses are fluting. The current production of nurses cannot fulfill the increasing demands.

Along with that, in research by Berlin et al. (2022), between 2017 and 2021, the RN turnover rate increased from 17 percent to 26%. By 2025, they estimate a gap of 200,000 to 450,000 (10-20%) nurses gap available for direct patient care.

The data shows a gap of -0.5 to -0.2/million nurses which accounts for 10-20% gap a skyrocketing nursing shortage in the United States. And now the question remains, how is the united state going to fulfill the increasing demand for nurses? ….The simple answer is  Immigrated nurses!!!.

The above numbers equate to opportunities for foreign migrated nurses. Most nurses in the USA want to leave the bedside to pursue other fields of nursing because frankly, bedside nursing is a physically, and mentally exhausting. But it is also where a nurse learns the core values of her profession, a very hands-on aspect of nursing with direct patient care. It can also be a rewarding environment to work in as the true satisfaction a nurse can gain will come from a happy smiling and satisfied client leaving the hospital after being discharged.