Newly Hired Nurses Working Most Shifts as Staffing Shortages Persist

Nursing tenure has decreased over the last year as staffing shortages persist, with newly hired nurses covering more 12-hour shifts at healthcare organizations, according to a study from Epic Research.

The nursing workforce has experienced significant staffing shortages since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Researchers analyzed data from more than 26 million nursing shifts across 189 healthcare organizations to determine nursing staff turnover rates.

The study considered the number of years nurses have been at their current organizations, the number of shifts covered by nurses new to the organizations, and the distribution of shifts based on how many years nurses have been with their organizations.

Between March 2021 and March 2022, the median nursing tenure declined by 19.5 percent in all US regions from 3.38 years to 2.78 years. The median tenure fell more drastically in the West, decreasing by 32.2 percent. Meanwhile, tenure fell by 17.7 percent in the Northeast, 16.4 percent in the Midwest, and 11.3 percent in the South.

At the same time, the number of shifts covered by new nurses increased across the country, with the most significant increases occurring in the South and West. The study defined new nurses as nurses who started at an organization in the last 30 days.

As of March 2022, 3.4 percent of all shifts were covered by new nurses in the South, 2.9 percent in the Midwest, and 2.6 percent in both the West and Northeast.

Researchers found that the greatest number of 12-hour shifts were filled by nurses with less than one year of tenure. Between March 2021 and March 2022, that number rose by 55.5 percent, with the South and the West seeing the steepest changes.

For example, in March 2022, almost 500,000 shifts were worked by nurses who had been with their organizations for less than a year. In contrast, nurses who had ten years of tenure worked less than 100,000 shifts.

In the South alone, nurses with less than one year of tenure worked almost 200,000 shifts, while nurses with between 10 and 15 years of tenure worked fewer than 50,000 shifts.

“These findings show that nurses are changing organizations or leaving the profession more frequently, highlighting the need for organizations to invest in retention and onboarding programs for nurses,” the study stated.

Recent data showed that the share of nurses considering leaving the profession increased from 11 percent in 2020 to 29 percent in 2021. Nurses cited inadequate compensation and heavy workloads as reasons for wanting to leave the field.

In 2021, the gender pay gap for registered nurses widened, with males making $14,000 more per year than females.

Burnout and stressful environments have also contributed to high nurse turnover rates. A study from Incredible Health found that more than a third of nurses plan to leave their current position by the end of 2022.

Experts predicted that the country may see a nursing shortage of between 200,000 and 450,000 registered nurses by 2025 if policymakers and healthcare stakeholders do not implement strategies to address workforce challenges.