Hayley Kellas always knew she wanted a career that helped make a difference in people’s lives.
“That was something I was always looking through when going through several majors in college,” said Kellas, a nurse at Sharp.
For her, nursing was an obvious choice.
“It is a really rewarding profession,” said Kellas.
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She’s been a nurse for eight years now. While she loves her job, she says it hasn’t always been easy, especially during the pandemic.
“It was scary, to be honest,” said Kellas. “Just knowing whether the number of nurses that we had could handle the number of patients that we had. It was a really difficult time, incredibly stressful, short-staffed.”
Nurses all over the country quit in record numbers during the pandemic, according to a survey by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN).
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“What we found is that our nurses are significantly stressed and burned out,” said Mary Anne Alexander, chief officer of nursing regulation for NCSBN. “[About] 100,000 nurses have left the workforce since COVID.”
It’s left nurses like Kellas overworked and overloaded with patients.
“When we don't have enough nurses to care for the number of patients that we have, not only is that really hard on the nurses, in terms of trauma, burnout, and poor morale, but it's also a danger to the community,” said Kellas.
The future isn’t looking optimistic either.
Another 800,000 nurses intend to leave the workforce in the next five years, according to the NCSBN survey.
“We have had nurses leave and transition to non-hospital positions, working remotely perhaps for insurance companies, or working in doctor's offices where the patient load isn't so heavy,’ said Kellas.
So how can we fix the issue?
“Employers can read our report and find out what is really going on and they should talk to their nurses and find out what's really going on in their own institution,” said Alexander. “In addition to that we need mental health services so nurses feel like they have someone to talk to if they’re feeling stressed. we need new models of care.”
Kellas's answer is more direct: more people and more advocacy.
“The community should really know that this is going on in the hospitals and that they can help by becoming a nurse or supporting legislation,” said Kellas.
Both agree the workforce will continue to collapse if nothing is done.
