NY Times: As U.S. Covid Hospitalizations Climb, A Chronic Nursing Shortage Is Worsening
With the spread of the BA.5 subvariant, Aya group president, April Hansen, spoke with the New York Times about travel nurse demand and trends. As coronavirus hospitalizations in the US have risen steadily in recent weeks, the nation’s chronic shortage of registered nurses is worsening. Hospitals across the country are struggling to find enough nurses, with some experiencing shortages at an “all-time high.” To close the gaps, hospitals are offering financial incentives for new hires, bringing in more freelance nurses, and in some cases, cutting services they cannot adequately staff to provide.
The reliance of hospitals on temporary nursing staff, once minimal, has soared more than fivefold since 2019. Demand for travel nurses, who are brought in from out of town by staffing agencies to fill gaps at hospitals for a few weeks or months, has climbed to a record high in 2021 and is projected to keep growing significantly in the United States. The McKinsey consulting firm projected in a report in May that the nation could face a shortage of up to 450,000 nurses by 2025. Read more about how Aya continues to be a key voice on the travel nurse industry.
Equity Exchange June 2022