- There is a ladder of nursing credentials, and the shortage effects them differently. Hiring for roles like CNA and LPN/LVN has exploded because of the shortage of RNs and above. CNAs get trained in 4-12 weeks to do the heavy lifting of care; RNs get ~3 year degrees to perform much more complicated tasks.
- Burnout, and the nursing shortage, are in a positive feedback loop/downward spiral. That is, the more nurses burn out, the more they cause other nurses to burn out. Short-staffed facilities have a very hard time pulling back to normal staffing, because nobody wants to join a skeleton crew. (I know of long-term care facilities where the scheduling nurses (the bosses) are working the graveyard shift because they can't fill it.)
- Many nurses work rigid schedules on 12-14 shifts, and a lot of medical errors happen at the end of those shifts. *
- The hot US job market (Great resignation, great reshuffle) is hitting nursing especially hard; it is very sensitive to external shocks. There are paths to easier work and higher pay.
- Many healthcare facilities and systems don't give nurses flexibility or the possibility of advancement. (One family member will need to quit her current job and come back in a year or two to her current employer if she wants to move up a pay grade -- which is like some tech companies -- but slower moving and lower paying.)
- Many facilities are run entirely on foreign staff (the H2-B visa allows that). And many nurses are imported from the Philippines.
* https://www.nursing.upenn.edu/nhhc/workforce-issues/where-di...
* https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000008158650/covid-...
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