The lack of qualified nurses in the health care industry didn’t start in 2020, but the pandemic certainly didn’t help by straining an already shorthanded and overburdened workforce.
Last year, the Louisiana Health Works Commission estimated that only 4,478 of the state’s projected 10,660 registered nurse positions will be filled by 2030, leaving a shortfall of more than 6,000.
The health care system can’t simply hire its way out of the problem, although it is trying. Nursing assistants, licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, advanced practice nurses, and nurse practitioners are expected to remain in high demand for years to come.
“This has been a decades-long problem,” says Dianne Teal, chief nursing officer for Ochsner Baton Rouge. “It’s been a problem for as long as I’ve been in nursing.”
The pandemic introduced new, heightened competition for nurses, which has, in turn, caused system administrators to reevaluate their staffing models, leading to a number of innovations.
One tactic hospitals are taking is to recruit some travel nurses to stay on as permanent staff.
Read what other strategies Baton Rouge-area hospitals are employing to deal with the nursing shortage in the latest edition of Business Report. Send comments to editor@businessreport.com.
