Since the onset of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, a shortage of skilled nursing staff has spiraled out of control. To understand how substantially the shortage has affected geographic areas of the United States, maps of both urban and rural areas are required. The shortage is now so severe, it is expected to continue into 2030 as the ability to mentor and educate nurses required for future generations has been diminished.
"Nurses need to be taught by other nurses," as cited by the same source, leading to what has been called an "educator exodus." No other modality is as effective, be it a simulation lab, textbook, or e-learning source. Experience counts at the bedside.
But when COVID hit, elective surgeries and outpatient procedures were canceled or postponed at multiple institutions. To maintain solvency, nurses close to retirement age were called off duty or encouraged to leave their posts if they were not needed for acute care areas, particularly pre-vaccines. Nurses close to retirement age also decided to leave the bedside when the stress of COVID proved overwhelming, forcing non-nursing staff to quickly learn bedside tasks such as turning and proning.
In addition, frontline nurses became exhausted and burned out, unable to work additional hours.
