HJBR Sep/Oct 2025

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE I  SEP / OCT 2025 41 Karen C. Lyon, PhD, MBA, APRN-CNS, NEA Chief Executive Officer Louisiana State Board of Nursing eas included gastroenterology, neurology, wound care, urgent care, dermatology, and pain management. You can read the report in its entirety and view the infographic at the following links: 2024 Nurse Supply Report: https:// www.lsbn.state.la.us/wp-content/ uploads/center-for-nursing/2024-nurse- supply-report-final.pdf?v=1751400784 2024 Snapshot of Nursing Education Capacity and Nursing Supply in Louisiana: https://www.lsbn.state.la.us/ wp-content/uploads/center-for-nursing/ lcn-educ-supply-snapshot-2024_final- singles.pdf?v=1751400784. n REFERENCES Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing at the Institute of Medicine. The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advanc- ing Health . National Academies Press (US); 2011. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24983041/. Smiley, Richard A., et al. “The 2024 Nation- al Nursing Workforce Survey.” Journal of Nursing Regulation 16, no. 1 (2025): S1–S88. https://www.journalofnursingregulation.com/ article/S2155-8256(25)00047-X/fulltext. United States Census Bureau. “QuickFacts: Unit- ed States; Louisiana.” 2024. https://www.census. gov/quickfacts/fact/table/LA,US/PST045222. U. S. Department of Health and Human Ser- vices Health Resources and Services Adminis- tration Bureau of Workforce Analysis. “National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses.” 2022. https://bhw.hrsa.gov/data-research/access-data- tools/national-sample-survey-registered-nurses. Sarah Luneau is the public information director/ project manager at the Louisiana State Board of Nursing – Center for Nursing. Luneau received her bachelor of science inmarketing from the University ofWisconsin in 2001.She joined the Louisiana State Board of Nursing in 2012 and has served as the proj- ect manager since 2021. In this role, she is charged with collecting, analyzing, and reporting on the reg- istered nurse (RN) and advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) workforce. Luneau addresses issues related to nursing education capacity, nurse supply, and nurse demand. of residence in 2024, which reflects Louisi- ana’s available nursing workforce. The gender distribution for the U.S. population is 50% male and 50% female, which is like that of Louisiana’s popula- tion, 49% male and 51% female (U.S. Cen- sus Bureau, 2024). The gender distribution for RNs in Louisiana is not reflective of state or national percentages. Since 2019, males represented 12% of the RN work- force and females represented 88%. Over the last five years, there was a 6% increase in the number of male RNs. Over the last five years, there has been no change in the proportion of licensed RNs in Louisiana with the initial nursing degree/credential that qualified them for their first U.S. nursing license: 4% voca- tional/practical; 5% diploma (5% in 2021, 2022, 2023; 6% in 2020); 39% associate degree (39% in 2023; 40% in 2020, 2021, 2022); 51% baccalaureate (51% in 2022, 2023; 50% in 2020 and 2021); and less than 1% master’s or higher. There was a 4% increase in the number of licensed RNs reporting that a vocation- al/practical certificate was their entry-lev- el degree into nursing, followed by a 4% increase for those indicating a master’s degree, a 2% increase for those indicating a baccalaureate degree, and a 1% increase indicating that an associate degree was their initial nursing education preparation. Nationally, 45% of the workforce entered the nursing workforce with a bachelor’s degree, making it now the most common degree for initial U.S. licensing (HRSA, 2024). In 2024, 5,456 licensed RNs residing in Louisiana indicated that they were en- rolled in school, which is equivalent to approximately 8% of the RN workforce. Of those who were enrolled in school, 2,314 (42%) were enrolled in a master’s in nurs- ing program, 1,987 (36%) indicated they were enrolled in a baccalaureate in nurs- ing program, and 623 (11%) were enrolled in a DNP program. Six percent (336) of the RNs reported being enrolled in non-nurs- ing post-education programs. In 2024, 11% (6,474) of the RNs residing and working in Louisiana reported their primary practice specialty area as acute care/critical care, a 1% increase, followed by 10% (5,623) reporting medical/surgical as their specialty practice area, a 2% in- crease. Three of the remaining top five primary practice specialty areas, outside of “other clinical specialties,” were: adult health/ adult family health (8%; 4,760), emergen- cy room trauma (7%; 4,223), and operating room/post-anesthesia care unit/periop- erative specialty areas (7%; 4,077). Other clinical specialty areas included utilization management, quality management, infu- sion, case management/care coordination, informatics, endoscopy, gastroenterology, infection prevention, clinical documenta- tion, and wound/ostomy care. APRNs Thirty-one percent (2,535) of the li- censed APRNs who resided in Louisiana in 2024 reported their primary specialty practice areas as adult health/adult family health, and 18% (1,479) indicated anesthe- sia as their primary specialty practice area. Seven percent (550) reported psych-men- tal health nursing as their primary spe- cialty, 5% (382) pediatrics, 4% (304) acute care/critical care, and 3% (258) emergency room/trauma. Other clinical specialty ar-