US Nurses Leaving Industry at Alarming Rate Due to Burnout, Survey Finds

A recent poll by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), released on Thursday, revealed that almost 100,000 registered nurses in the United States quit their jobs due to the stress caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

A poll of over 53,000 US nurses in 45 states found that 610,388 experienced registered nurses with an average age of 57 and 189,000 nurses with an average age of 36 intend to leave their job by 2027 due to burnout, stress, or retirement, CNN reported.

The NCSBN study indicated that, as of 2022, there are over 5.2 million active registered nurses and 973,788 licensed practical or vocational nurses in the United States.

In the next five years, more than a quarter of those surveyed plan to retire or quit the sector. About 62% of the nurses who responded to the study claimed that the pandemic had increased their workload, and 50.8% reported that it had left them feeling emotionally exhausted at the workplace.

Urgent Action To Assist US Nurses Needed

According to Maryann Alexander, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, NCSBN Chief Officer of Nursing Regulation, the pandemic is prompting nurses to quit their employment and intend to leave in the future, and as a result, the future of nursing and the US healthcare system is at a critical point. If swift action is not taken, this might escalate into a serious crisis and endanger patient care.

Alexander is also pushing healthcare institutions, lawmakers, regulators, and academic leaders to work together and implement "urgent" solutions to assure patient safety and solve these issues, per Yahoo! Finance.

In February, bipartisan Minnesota senators unveiled legislation to prevent nurses from quitting their jobs, raising the alarm about a growing "care crisis" negatively affecting patients.

The "Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act" mandates all hospitals to form committees so direct care employees and US nurses may weigh in on staffing assignments, per CBS News. The legislation was authored by Sens. Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, and Jim Abeler, R-Anoka,

Additional money for mental health program expansion and nursing student debt cancellation are also included in the legislation to help US nurses.