Working to resolve the nursing shortage

Working to resolve the nursing shortage

2022-07-13T10:16:27-04:00March 2nd, 2022|Economy, Healthcare, Tampa Bay|

Writer: Alejandro Sanchez 

nursing shortage2 min read March   2022—  As the shortage of qualified personnel, specifically nurses, remains a concern for healthcare organizations nationwide, both public and private leaders are looking for creative and strategic solutions to solve the problem. 

“We are in the midst of an acute nursing shortage, which is the largest component of the healthcare workforce,” said USF Health Dean Usha Menon during an interview with Invest:. “The Florida Hospital Association recently released a report that by 2025, the shortage in Florida will be higher than the national shortage. We are in dire straits.”

The challenge of finding qualified individuals is only half the battle, as organizations also struggle to retain their newly acquired staff. “The turnover rate for newly licensed registered nurses is approximately 30% in the first year and as high as 57% the second year,” said Menon. “Can you imagine what this does to an organization, and this is not the kind of industry where you cannot afford to have no one in such a position for 30 days while you hire someone else.”

During Florida’s current legislative session, sectoral leaders will be paying attention to the funds dedicated to training nurses and mitigating the labor crisis. Leaders in the field agree that failing to allocate enough resources to solve this problem will eventually have a long lasting impact not only on healthcare providers, but on the overall economic performance of the state. Currently, it has been proposed that from the House healthcare budget, $100 million will be redirected to nursing training programs. 

Outside of state allocated funds, organizations are looking at other creative solutions to solve the nursing shortage. AdventHealth, a major healthcare provider with two facilities in Tampa Bay, is currently seeking to hire 10 nurses from abroad. Amidst the crisis, traveling nurses became a temporary solution, but the cost, turnover rates, and overall shrinking of the professional pipeline forced institutions to look for experienced professionals internationally. Nurses typically come from the Philippines, Jamaica, and other english-speaking countries. 

According to the American Association of International Healthcare Recruitment, about 5,000 visas have been approved and are pending to be issued for international nurses. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the licensing and placement process for international nurses has gone from 120 days to 12 months, an additional challenge for those healthcare organizations in urgent need of professionals. 

Higher education institutions are also expanding their offerings to help curve the lack of nursing professionals. “Everyone is aware that there is a nursing shortage in healthcare. There are approximately 1,200 open nursing jobs in the region to be filled so we are launching our first BSN program next fall as a response to help meet that shortfall,“ said Hillsborough Community College President Ken Atwater during an interview with Invest:. 

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