Hospitals across North America have nursing jobs to fill. The people trained to fill them exist. The gap is in how many of them want to keep working under today's conditions.
A recent Wall Street Journal report by Te-Ping Chen looks at why so many nurses are leaving bedside roles. Jeff Doucette, chief nursing officer at healthcare analytics firm Press Ganey, summed it up this way: "There's a shortage of nurses that want to work in the current environment."
That shift matters for every healthcare leader. It means the answer isn't only recruiting more nurses. It's making the job one people can stay in.
The work itself has changed. More care now happens outpatient, so the patients who stay in hospital tend to be sicker and need closer monitoring. Nurses also coordinate with more specialists and spend more time on electronic records. Many do this on 12-hour shifts with a break of 30 minutes or less.
Crowded emergency departments add pressure. An analysis of records from 1,500 hospitals by the University of Michigan Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center found ER wait times rose during the pandemic and stayed high through 2024. In the busiest winter months, nearly 5% of patients waited more than 24 hours for a hospital bed. When patients wait that long, nurses are the ones they see.
Nearly 5%
of ER patients wait more than 24 hours for a hospital bed during the busiest winter months
Source: University of Michigan Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
The result shows up in turnover. Fifteen years ago, bedside registered nurses had a turnover rate of 11%, according to NSI Nursing Solutions. That rate started climbing before Covid and jumped further during it.
More common than most people outside healthcare realize.
Press Ganey found that 2.4% of nursing staff in its national hospital sample were attacked in some way over the past year. That works out to more than 1,000 attacks a month, and the rate is up 26% since 2017. The company notes the real number is likely higher because many incidents go unreported.
1,000+
attacks on hospital nursing staff every month
Source: Press Ganey
Up 26%
increase in the rate of attacks on nursing staff since 2017
Source: Press Ganey
Surveys of nurses themselves point higher still. In a National Nurses United survey of 1,300 nurses, 33% said they had been slapped, punched or kicked in the past year. Another 12% reported being groped or touched inappropriately.
1 in 3
nurses say they were slapped, punched or kicked on the job in the past year
Source: National Nurses United survey of 1,300 nurses
Behind each number is a person. The WSJ spoke with an emergency nurse in Pennsylvania who was punched in the face by a patient. She still loves bedside nursing, but she now feels anxious every time she goes to work and is studying for a master's degree that will open up other career paths.
Nurses are clear that feeling safe affects whether they stay. Almost two in five healthcare workers have considered leaving their jobs because of safety concerns, according to a Harris Poll commissioned by Verkada.
Almost 2 in 5
healthcare workers have considered leaving their jobs because of safety concerns
Source: Harris Poll, commissioned by Verkada
Hospitals that invest in their nurses are seeing a return. Rome Health in New York won a $5 million grant from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation to support its nursing workforce. It used the money for a residency program for new nurses and a coach who meets with nurses one on one. Turnover is still 28%, but the hospital says bringing it down is already paying off, with fewer patient falls and fewer of certain IV-related infections.
Other systems are focusing on physical security. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center added metal detectors across its 40 hospitals after a shooting at one of its campuses. Nurses interviewed by the WSJ said these measures help, but they work best as one part of a wider plan that includes unit-specific safety planning and enough staff on every shift.
Nurses know where the risks are on their units. Regular check-ins, safety committees with frontline voices, and clear follow-up on concerns show staff their input leads to change.
Many incidents never get reported. A short, easy reporting process gives leaders a clearer picture and tells nurses that every incident counts.
When a situation starts to escalate, seconds matter. Nurses should be able to call for help discreetly, without reaching for a phone or leaving a patient's side, and responders should know exactly where to go.
Home care nurses, community health workers and social services staff often work alone in clients' homes. They face many of the same risks with no team down the hall. Their safety plans need to reflect that.
Aware360 builds connected worker safety solutions for healthcare and social services teams, including nurses who work alone. SafetyAware and AlertGPS give workers a simple, discreet way to call for help and share their location, so the right people can respond quickly. For staff, that means more confidence on every shift. For leaders, it means a safety program that supports the people they work hard to keep.
Learn more about how Aware360 can support your nurses.
Nursing is still a calling for many people. The nurses in the WSJ story want to keep caring for patients. What they are asking for is safer conditions and enough support to do the job well. Healthcare organizations that answer that call will be the ones that keep their nurses.