HJBR Jan/Feb 2023

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE I  JAN / FEB 2023 51 Karen C. Lyon, PhD, MBA, APRN-CNS, NEA Chief Executive Officer Louisiana State Board of Nursing ference Center and used the World Café format to address seven specific themes. The World Café format is a workshop methodology that fosters an environment supportive of conversation and open ex- change of ideas. The intent is to create an authentic dialogue where everyone’s ideas are heard. The sharing of ideas occurs in a friendly and relaxed environment. Each theme was assigned to separate tables where a facilitator and scribe kept the con- versation moving, encouraged and facili- tated contributions from all participants, and recorded all ideas. Graduate students in Doctor of Nursing Practice programs across the state also participated and will be working to synthesize the data and in- novative ideas produced at the World Café and a report will be forthcoming in 2023. The seven themes that were addressed in- cluded the following: 1. Academic-practice partnerships (curriculum, faculty embedded in clinical settings, foundation needs, and clinical opportunities). 2. Preparation and transition to prac- tice. 3. Faculty shortage in Louisiana. 4. Diversifying the nursing workforce in Louisiana. 5. Impact of COVID-19 on admissions and nurse faculty and clinical prac- tice. 6. Innovation in technology, models of care — radical change. 7. Mitigating burnout and promoting healthy work environments. 1 According to the American Nurses As- sociation, the 43 million registered nurses in the United States work in every aspect of healthcare and are essential to delivering care and eliminating health inequities and disparities in health outcomes on a region- al and state basis. While shortages have occurred throughout the last 50 years, the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic exacer- bated the problem. Increased demand for healthcare in an aging population, retire- ment plans for an aging nursing work- force, and a booming economy in 2019 and early into 2020 also contributed to the nursing shortage. Nurses represent the largest group of healthcare professionals in the nation and our state. In conjunction with what has been called “the great res- ignation,” increased numbers of workers desiring to work remotely, nursing retire- ments outpacing new entrants to the field, increasing demand for health services with an aging population, and increasing disease chronicity requiring life-long care, demand for nursing services is greater than ever. 2 In 2020, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing and the National Fo- rum of State Nursing Workforce Centers collaborated to survey the United States nursing workforce to analyze trends in nursing employment. According to their data, the current median age of RNs is 52, and many of these individuals report plans to retire in the next 5 years. These plans may even accelerate given the toll the COVID-19 pandemic had on both the physical and mental well-being of these nurses. It is estimated that there could be over 190,000 openings for nurses across the nation. 3 In Louisiana, unmet demand for RNs grew from 2,033 in 2014 to 4,065 in 2018.4 If this trend continues, we can ex- pect an RN shortage of between 8,000 and 10,000 over the next two years. RECOMMENDATIONS Both the Nursing Synergy Summit and LSBN’s Nursing Demand Study conducted every four years recommend the following actions: 1. Increase capitation funding to post-secondary institutions to in- crease RN supply. 2. Ensure that the diversity of the stu- dent nurse and RN populations matches the racial diversity of our state. 3. Support legislative efforts to lower college tuition costs for nursing stu- dents. 4. Increase nurse faculty salaries to stay competitive with salaries offered in the clinical setting. 5. Support funding for health institu- tions to offer transition-to-practice programs for new nurse graduates. 6. Implement evidence-based RN re- tention models across the various healthcare systems in an effort to decrease consistently high turnover rates, thereby decreasing the cost as- sociated with high turnover rates. 7. Provide funding for the development of a statewide strategic plan to ad- dress the nursing shortage, which sig- nificantly affects the health outcomes of the citizens of Louisiana. 4 n REFERENCES 1 Rooney, E. “From Your President.” The Pelican News: the Official Publication of the LSNA and the Louisiana Nurses Foundation 78, no. 4 (Oc- tober 2022). Louisiana State Nurses Association. 2 “Nurses in the Workforce.” American Nurses Association (Accessed November 2022). https:// www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/work- force/ 3 “Number of Nurses in U.S. and by Jurisdiction: A Profile of Nursing Licensure in the U.S.” Nation- al Council of State Boards of Nursing (Accessed November 2022). https://www.ncsbn.org/sites/ ncsbn/nursing-regulation/national-nursing-data- base/licensure-statistics.page 4 “Louisiana’s 2019 Nursing Workforce Demand Report.” Louisiana State Board of Nursing (Au- gust 2020). https://www.lsbn.state.la.us/wp-con- tent/uploads/2022/02/NursingWorkforceDe- mandReport2019.pdf