HJBR Jul/Aug 2023

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE I  JUL / AUG 2023 53 Karen C. Lyon, PhD, MBA, APRN-CNS, NEA Chief Executive Officer Louisiana State Board of Nursing APRNs, which is in line with the ll.5% reported at the national level. 2 Eight percent were nurse managers and 5% were case managers. Twelve percent (6,523) of the RNs residing and work- ing in Louisiana reported their primary practice specialty area as acute care/ critical care, followed by 11% (5,706) reporting medical-surgical as their specialty practice area, a 3% decrease in number. There was a 40% increase in the number of nurses reporting public health as their primary practice spe- cialty over the last five years. Eighty- three percent of the RNs (51,292) working in Louisiana in 2022 reported that they provided direct patient care in their practice. Between 2018 and 2022, there was a 27% increase in the number of RNs holding three or more positions, yet the vast majority of RNs (90%) working and residing in Louisi- ana reported employment in only one nursing position in 2022. In 2022, 16% (9,595) of the RNs work- ing and residing in Louisiana indicated that they were planning to leave their current nursing position which is a slight increase in number when com- pared to 2021 (9,500). Of the 9,595 RNs planning to leave their current nursing positions, 2,303 (24%) indicated that they would be retiring and 1,955 (20%) cited salary/pay as the reason for leav- ing their current position, which rep- resents a 5% increase in number over the previous year. In 2022, approximately 50% (23,740) of the RNs that worked full-time reported annual salaries between $60,000 and $99,999. Five percent (2,246) of the full-time employed RNs reported an- nual salaries of less than $40,000. MAJOR FINDINGS — REGISTERED NURSES IN LOUISIANA (2022) and an increase of 51% in the number of DNPs since 2018. Only 11% reported having a PhD in nursing and seven per- cent reported having another form of doctorate in nursing. In 2022, 5,120 li- censed RNs residing in Louisiana indi- cated that they were enrolled in school which is equivalent to approximately 8% of the RN workforce: 2,107 (41%) were enrolled in a Master’s in Nursing program; 1,882 (37%) indicated they were enrolled in a baccalaureate in nursing program; and 617 (12%) were enrolled in a DNP program. Between 2018 and 2022, there has been a 23% decrease in the number of stu- dents accepted for admission into Lou- isiana’s RN to BSN programs. There was a 14% decrease in the number of students enrolled and a 16% decrease in the number of graduates from Lou- isiana’s RN to BSN programs over the last year. Seventy-four percent (47,389) of the licensed RNs residing in Louisiana re- ported working full-time, 7% (4,452) part-time, and 7% (4,245) per diem. Nurses that were not employed in- dicated that they were either unem- ployed and seeking a nursing position (1,449; 2%) or unemployed and not seeking work as a nurse (2,581; 4%), which is equivalent to approximately 7% (4,030) of the licensed RNs resid- ing in Louisiana. Hospitals employed 60% (32,763) of the RNs residing in Louisiana which is in line with the 60% reported by HRSA in the 2018 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses. 1 Sixty-four percent (34,607) of RNs residing in Louisiana reported working as staff nurses in 2022. Twelve percent (6,388) indicated they were On December 31st, 2022, 65,596 RNs held an active license to practice in Louisiana. Ninety-four percent of those RNs lived in Louisiana and 6% resided outside of Louisiana. In 2022, approximately 54% of the licensed RNs that lived outside of Louisiana lived in a compact state. Approximately 25% of the 3,970 RNs that lived outside of Louisiana in 2022 came from the bor- der states of Mississippi and Texas, both of which are compact states. Twenty-six percent (16,149) of the li- censed RNs in Louisiana were between 30 and 39 years of age in 2022 and 23% (14,086) were between 40 and 49 years of age. In 2022, 38% (23,311) of licensed RNs residing in Louisiana were 50 years and older with 18% (10,949) be- ing 60 years and older. From 2018 to 2022, males represented 12% of the RN workforce and females represented 88%. There was a 10% in- crease in the number of male RNs in 2022 compared to 2018. At the national level, males represent 9.6% of the RN workforce. 1 The RN workforce in Louisiana is 3% Hispanic/Latino. In the U.S. and Lou- isiana, minorities comprise approxi- mately 43% of the population, whereas minorities comprise 23%of Louisiana’s RN workforce. Sixty-two percent (38,241) of all li- censed RNs residing in Louisiana in 2022 reported having a baccalaureate or higher degree in nursing. Approxi- mately 2% (1,122) of the RNs residing in Louisiana reported having a doctorate. Fifty-seven percent have a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), an increase of 8% in the number of DNPs since 2021