ShiftMed's Annual State of Nursing Report Finds 49% of Nurses Surveyed Likely to Quit in Next Two Years, Worsening Shortage

Desire to help others no longer enough, with nurses citing burnout, COVID risk, and insufficient pay as key drivers for leaving field

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ShiftMed

Oct 19, 2021, 08:00 ET

MCLEAN, Va., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ShiftMed, one of the largest workforce management platforms in health care with over 60,000 credentialed health care professionals, in its Annual State of Nursing Report conducted by Wakefield Research, revealed the alarming finding that nearly half of U.S. nurses (49%) say they are at least somewhat likely to leave the nursing profession in the next two years.

"The mental and physical stress of the pandemic, excessive hours, lack of time off, and flexibility is making some nurses reconsider their profession," said Todd Walrath, CEO of ShiftMed.com. "Many of the things that nurses told us would convince them to stay in the nursing field—higher pay, more nursing staff to ensure patients are properly cared for, better shifts, more flexible schedules, and fewer working hours—are exactly the problems ShiftMed was created to solve."

Historically, the desire to do good and help others has been a primary motive for becoming a nurse, but ShiftMed's State of Nursing Report found that more than three-quarters of nurses (76%) think that may no longer be enough. The three biggest reasons why people don't consider a career in nursing are concerns about their safety (36%), the belief that nurses aren't treated well (34%), and fear of burnout (31%), which as other results showed is a very real fear.

Some of the survey's other findings:

Of the 49% who say they may leave nursing in the next two years, 38% will pursue non-patient facing roles in healthcare, while 31% plan to leave healthcare all together.
Nurses' opinions on vaccine mandates are nearly evenly split, with 23% stating that the implementation of mandates would convince them to stay vs. 19% who say the elimination of mandates will make them stay.
Ultimately, nurses want their administrators to recognize their need to be taken care of during this time, with 41% of nurses wanting more time off and 28% wanting mental health support and counseling to prevent burnout.

ShiftMed is the No. 1 ranked mobile app for professionals searching for flexible nursing jobs, addressing nursing shortages and enabling hospitals to reach their required staffing levels. In 2021, the company has already hired more than 10,000 nurses, which provided over 1 million hours of care, and received more than 100,000 app downloads. The company now services 56 markets across the United States.

The ShiftMed Annual State of Nursing Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research among 250 U.S. nurses, including 200 RNs, 25 LPNs, and 25 CNAs, between September 16th and September 28th, 2021, using an email invitation and an online survey.

About ShiftMed
ShiftMed is a next-generation workforce management platform that connects hospitals, assisted living providers and skilled nursing facilities to the highest quantity and quality of licensed nurses (CNAs, LPNs, and RNs). As the #1 nursing jobs mobile app on the App Store with over 100,000 downloads in the past year, ShiftMed serves more than 600 enterprise health care partners across the country by offering software tools and direct access to labor for shift scheduling. The ShiftMed on-demand platform dramatically streamlines the delivery of care services and enables health care providers access to compliant, credentialed workers to fulfill their staffing needs faster than any other solution. For more information, visit http://www.ShiftMed.com.

About Wakefield Research
Wakefield Research (www.wakefieldresearch.com) is an independent, full-service market research firm conducting research for the world's top brands in more than 90 countries.

Media Contact:
Erin Mandzik
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862-246-9911

SOURCE ShiftMed