According to a new survey from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing released on Thursday, about 100,000 registered nurses called it quits during the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than half a million more planning to leave the workforce by 2027.
“Approximately 100,000 registered nurses (RNs) left the workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic in the past two years due to stress, burnout, and retirements,” according to the report’s key findings, with the group estimating more than 610,000 nurses with more than ten years of experience and an average age of 57 have an “intent to leave” their jobs within the next five years for the same reasons.
“Altogether, about one-fifth of RNs nationally are projected to leave the health care workforce,” the NCSBN said in a statement. Another estimated 188,000 nurses younger than 40 have “similar intentions” to leave the workforce in the coming years, the organization said.
The NCSBN — a nonprofit whose membership includes nursing regulatory bodies in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and four U.S. territories — said their study is “the most comprehensive and only research in existence” on the phenomenon, examining the root causes of nurses’ decision to leave the workforce.
Click here to read more
