Frontline nurses and healthcare providers have been hanging up their scrubs at a pace never seen before. Nursing jobs have been declining for years, both in Texas and across the nation, even before the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a 2017 study by the Health Resources and Services Administration, researchers predicted that by 2030 Texas would be short by around 50,000 nurses. According to the Texas State Department of Health Services, Texas healthcare facilities employed 251,253 nurses as of 2019. This number shows that even before the curveball of the pandemic, nursing careers were on track to see a significant drop.
The pandemic has caused hospitals to hire frantically, and more nurses than usual are employed worldwide to take care of the ill. However, right now, the effects of the pandemic are starting to overwhelm nurses and other practitioners in overcrowded hospitals. A problem has emerged due to Covid-19. There’s an increase in the number of nurses needed, and at the same time, fewer nurses are willing to work. An AMN Healthcare survey concluded that a staggering 56% of nurses felt “burnt out on most days.”
This trend is concerning for healthcare professionals such as Ernest Grant, President of the American Nurses Association. He expresses, “The nation’s health care delivery systems are overwhelmed, and nurses are tired and frustrated as this persistent pandemic rages on with no end in sight.”
Along with long hours and understaffed hospitals, a political divide has pushed some nurses to the limit. For example, a New York hospital had to shut down its maternity ward after its nurses quit due to vaccine mandates.
While some individuals feel that there is not enough effort to curb the spread. Lack of protective equipment and stay-at-home options has caused many to rethink their nursing careers.
