Nurse shortages by the numbers

ASCs and hospitals nationwide are feeling the effects of severe nurse shortages, exacerbated by a recent COVID-19 spike. 

Eight notes on the shortages:

1. A Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine formula projects a shortage of 510,394 registered nurses nationwide by 2030.

2. Nurse turnover rates have risen to about 22 percent in 2021, up from an annual rate of about 18 percent in 2019, according to The Wall Street Journal.

3. By 2030, estimates suggest California will face the largest nursing shortage of any state. The federal Bureau of Health Workforce projects the state will have a deficit of 44,500 nurses.

4. In Texas, there are 23,0000 more unfilled RN positions than there are nurses looking to fill them, according to a labor analysis by the Texas Workforce Commission cited by The Texas Tribune in August. 

5. Since February 2020, hospital employment has declined by nearly 94,000, including a decrease of more than 8,000 between August 2021 and September 2021, according to research nonprofit Altarum's analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data through September.

6. Between 2019 and 2020, there was an increase in job vacancies for nursing personnel of up to 30 percent, according to an analysis of American Hospital Association survey data.

7. Rural communities absorb greater impacts of the nursing shortage than metropolitan areas. Only 16 percent of RNs live in rural areas, where they serve over 52 million Americans who reside there, according to data cited by the University of St. Augustine (Fla.). 

8. As of February 2021, registered nursing was the fifth most in-demand job in the American workforce, according to LinkedIn data cited by the University of St. Augustine. 

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