HJBR Jan/Feb 2022

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE I  JAN / FEB 2022 51 Karen C. Lyon, PhD, MBA, APRN-CNS, NEA Chief Executive Officer Louisiana State Board of Nursing • There has been a 7% increase in num- ber of admissions to nursing pro- grams over the past year. • The number of qualified applicants denied admission to nursing pro- grams over the past year has de- creased by 8%. The 2020 Nursing Supply in Louisiana Report is based on a snapshot of every RN and APRN that had an active license to practice in Louisiana on Dec. 31, 2020. The 2020 LSBN licensure renewal season marked the sixth year of renewals using the National Council of State Boards of Nurs- ing (NCSBN) Optimal Regulatory Board System (ORBS) online licensure renewal system. This is the third year that LSBNwill have licensure data on all licensed RNs and APRNs available through ORBS. The LSBN IT Department, the Center for Nursing and the ORBS team have worked diligently over the last six years to ensure the quality and accuracy of the data that will be used by our stakeholders to inform policymak- ers related to Louisiana’s RN and APRN workforce. Major findings include: • On Dec. 31, 2020, 66,076 RNs held an active license to practice in Louisiana. • In 2020, 56% of licensed RNs resid- ing in Louisiana were over 50 years of age. • In the U.S. and Louisiana, minorities comprise approximately 41% of the population, whereas minorities com- prise 20% of Louisiana’s RN work- force. • Of the 66,076 RNs holding an active license to practice in Louisiana in 2020, 12% (7,630) also held an active Advanced Practice RN (APRN) li- cense. The newly licensed registered nurses (NLRN) were recently surveyed, and LCN is currently analyzing the data andworking on the report. This report will be the sixth biennial survey of NLRNs conducted by LCN. Conducting the NLRN Survey every two years gives LCN the ability to monitor employment trends and challenges report- ed by NLRNs in Louisiana, which will give employers of NLRNs and nurse educators important information that can be used to help create a seamless transition from aca- demia to practice and increase retention of NLRNs. This year’s survey will be particu- larly important, because it will reflect the first data we have on newly licensed nurses that worked through the first 20 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. CURRENT PRIORITIES AND GOALS LCN continues to remain active with the Nursing Supply and Demand Council, the Healthworks Commission, the Louisiana Organization for Nursing Leadership, the Louisiana Council of Administrators of Nursing Education and the Louisiana Ac- tion Coalition. Our current priorities and goals are to continue to analyze workforce survey data to identify trends in nursing turnover, practice burnout, aging issues and retirement. The data will be used to in- formdecisionmaking for the Nursing Sup- “Our current priorities and goals are to continue to analyze workforce survey data to identify trends in nursing turnover, practice burnout, aging issues and retirement. The data will be used to inform decision making for the Nursing Supply and Demand Council and Healthworks Commission related to faculty recruitment and retention, increasing capacity for nurse education, increasing numbers of BSN and higher degreed nurses, and financing nursing education.” ply and Demand Council and Healthworks Commission related to faculty recruit- ment and retention, increasing capacity for nurse education, increasing numbers of BSN and higher degreed nurses, and fi- nancing nursing education. CHALLENGES Louisiana continues to face a nursing shortage along with a lack of faculty to teach in the nursing schools. LCN will con- tinue to try to identify ways to retain the current nursing workforce and encourage others to enter the field of nursing. Board members of LSBN met Nov. 30, 2021, to plan the second-year strategic initiatives of our 2021 -2023 Triennial Strategic Plan. Those initiatives will be reported to our Louisiana stakeholders and the National Forum in 2022. n REFERENCES “Nursing Education Capacity in Louisiana 2020.” Louisiana State Board of Nursing, Center for Nursing. http://lcn.lsbn.state.la.us/ Portals/0/Documents/ 2020NursingEducationCapacityReport.pdf “2020 Nurse Supply Report.” Louisiana State Board of Nursing, Center for Nursing. http:// lcn.lsbn.state.la.us/Portals/0/Documents/ 2020%20Nurse%20Supply%20Report.pdf “2020 Snapshot of Nursing Education Capacity and Nursing Supply in Louisiana.” Louisiana Center for Nursing. June 2021. http://lcn.lsbn.state.la.us/Portals/0/ Documents /2020%20Nurse%20Supply %20Report.pdf