HealthLeaders | by Carol Davis | MAY 11, 2023
Most nurses blame staffing shortages for poor mental health.
Only one-third of nurses surveyed plan to remain in the profession for the foreseeable future and about one-fourth plan to leave in one or two years from now, a new report warns.
Insufficient staff to meet demand – the worst part of the profession, they say – creates burnout and overwork, according to more than half of nurses surveyed in a study conducted by Florida Atlantic University’s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and Cross Country Healthcare Inc., a workforce solutions platform and advisory firm.
The survey was conducted earlier this year with nearly 1,500 nursing professionals and students at healthcare and hospital facilities across the country and was outlined in the report, The Future of Nursing: At the Breaking Point.
Nurses reported experiencing symptoms of anxiety (46%), insomnia (35%), and depression (32%) and the leading cause for poor mental health was staffing shortages (71%), followed by a lack of support resources (55%). Yet, most employed nurses (83%) do not use mental health or well-being counseling, despite employers offering such services, according to the survey.
In contrast, 47% of nursing students use the mental health offerings from their school and 53% find them useful, the survey says, with 61% saying their school offers mental health and well-being resources, including student assistance programs, gyms and fitness resources, counseling, food and nutrition services, and a mental health and well-being hotline.
Asked if they were satisfied with their decision to become a nurse, 93% of student nurses said they are. Working nurses’ experience with the COVID-19 pandemic has added to feelings of discontent however, and nearly two in five employed nurses indicating it dramatically increased their desire to leave the profession.
“We had hoped that at this point past the pandemic, we would see improvement in the sentiment of our nurses, but that’s simply not the case,” said John A. Martins, Cross Country’s president and CEO. “The profession has reached a breaking point, and it is well past time that industry leaders come together to create reform to revitalize this essential profession.”
Methods might include:
- Create new opportunities for education: Identify new pathways at the high school, undergraduate, and postgraduate levels to expedite the supply of nurses; recruit more nursing faculty to educate and train the next generation of nurses.
- Offer flexibility and awareness of growth opportunities: Open every door to expedite the transition from the university to the hospital floor and offer more fluid career paths that match individual skills and ambitions to evolve and grow with the person.
- Invest in retention strategies and well-being initiatives that matter: Focus on enriching current and future nurses’ working conditions and well-being to ensure long-term satisfaction and subsequent retention.
- Embrace technological innovation: Use technology to understand better equitable workforce distribution, workflow management, employee satisfaction and well-being, and patient safety.
- Explore innovative staffing models: Explore innovative and flexible staffing models, including travel and per-diem nurses, to provide agility and continuity of quality patient care.
“Despite the many challenges and stressors that have contributed to burnout and nurses being on the brink of a breaking point in their professional careers, nurses and nursing students remain overwhelming satisfied with their career choice,” said Safiya George, PhD, FAANP, the nursing school’s dean and professor.
“Nurses have endured and thrived over the years,” she said. “The profession as a whole will need a lot more investment of human capital as well as fiscal and other supportive resources moving forward. This national survey has helped to identify innovative ways to improve quality of work and life for current and the next generation of nurses.”