New research supported in part by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) shows that throughout the entirety of 2021, the total supply of RNs decreased by more than 100,000 in one year—a far greater drop than ever observed over the past four decades. Numerous studies conducted throughout the pandemic have revealed frighteningly high burnout rates among nurses. In a May American Journal of Nursing editorial, two nurses argue that it’s time to stop assessing the prevalence of nurse burnout and instead “focus on what we know might mitigate burnout.”
Aside from being the right thing to do, why is it so important to act now to address this crisis?
The profession is at a critical inflection point, and not just because we need nurses at the bedside and in the clinics. Numbering nearly 4 million, nurses have more contact with patients than any other healthcare providers. Nurses play an essential role in ensuring all patients get high-quality care. Fewer nurses, coupled with widespread burnout, will only exacerbate the inequities already rampant in our healthcare system. Writer Savala Nolan, in her essay, How I Survived a Racialized Pregnancy in the American Healthcare System, describes the numerous touchpoints along her journey where her care was negatively impacted by the implicit bias of healthcare providers—including her nurses—and systematized racism. While education is partly key to alleviating this centuries-old problem, we need broader systemic change that digs deep into the roots of structural racism and provides the kind of support that reduces stress and burnout in those who deliver care. In the documentary Who Cares: A Nurse’s Fight for Equity, mental health nurse practitioner Whitney Fear (Oglala Lakota) points out that patients who receive poor care are often getting that care from a burned-out provider.
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