The Driving Forces Behind Nurses Leaving the Profession

In the United States, as well as globally, a nursing shortage is highly expected within the next decade and will continue to be a major problem affecting healthcare delivery in the years to come.1 Baby boomers presently dominate the registered nurse (RN) workforce, accounting for 40% of actively working RNs who will soon be entering retirement.2 In 2011, nursing schools were unable to accept 60,000 qualified applicants as a result of budgetary constraints and insufficient numbers of faculty, clinical preceptors, and clinical sites.3 Although the United States has previously experienced nursing shortages,4 projections estimate that this RN shortage will likely surpass 500,000 RNs by the year 2025 and will persist for the long term.3 It is forecasted that the shortage will affect the delivery of healthcare directly, as well as the quality of patient care. Factors thought to be contributing to the anticipated shortage include the increasing number of individuals insured through the Affordable Care Act, the healthcare demands from the elderly population, and the retiring baby-boomer RN workforce.2 and 4 According to 2013 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it is anticipated that by 2020, there will be a need for 1.05 million RNs in the United States.5 The projected nursing shortage is a concern beyond the United States, expanding internationally to other developed nations.6