For decades, the American public has been bombarded with headlines warning of a “nursing shortage.” News outlets, healthcare lobbyists, and policymakers routinely echo the claim that there simply aren’t enough nurses to meet demand. The implication is clear: if only we could train more nurses, our healthcare system would recover.
But this narrative is a dangerous hoax—one that obscures the root causes of the crisis in nursing and shifts blame from hospital administrators, healthcare corporations, and public officials to workers and schools. The real problem isn’t a lack of nurses. It’s that too many nurses are burned out, disrespected, and driven from the profession by the very institutions that claim to need them.
Supply Exceeds Demand—Until the Budget Shrinks
According to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), there are over 5 million licensed registered nurses in the United States. But only about 3.1 million are employed as RNs. Thousands more work in non-nursing roles because they can't find hospital jobs that pay a living wage—or because they’ve left frontline care for their mental health.
Meanwhile, colleges and universities have ramped up nursing programs, often with hefty tuition costs. For-profit nursing schools and online diploma mills have further expanded the pipeline, in part due to government pressure to "solve" the shortage. Yet the jobs nurses are entering—or leaving—are grueling, underpaid, and too often unsafe.
The real issue is retention, not recruitment. And the people driving nurses away know exactly what they’re doing.
The Burnout Epidemic
Nurse burnout has reached catastrophic levels. A 2023 report by the American Nurses Foundation found that over 60% of nurses report symptoms of burnout: emotional exhaustion, depression, depersonalization, and a sense of futility. Nearly one in three consider leaving the profession entirely.
The reasons are no mystery:
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Chronic understaffing, often intentional, means nurses are responsible for too many patients at once—sometimes double or triple safe ratios.
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Mandatory overtime and unpredictable shifts prevent recovery and family life.
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Violence against nurses has increased, with minimal support from hospital leadership.
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Moral injury is common: watching patients suffer due to insurance denials, lack of staff, or profit-driven policies.
Hospitals—especially those owned by private equity firms and mega-health systems—maximize profits by minimizing labor costs. That means keeping staffing levels dangerously low and leaning on travel nurses, gig workers, and new grads instead of building a sustainable workforce.
A Manufactured Crisis for Policy and Profit
Why perpetuate the "nursing shortage" myth? Because it serves multiple powerful interests:
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Hospitals and health systems use the shortage narrative to justify importing nurses from abroad under temporary work visas, often under precarious conditions.
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Politicians use it to avoid deeper conversations about working conditions, safe staffing laws, or universal healthcare.
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Education providers, especially for-profits, profit from the flood of new enrollees chasing stable careers—often leaving with crushing debt.
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Tech firms and “innovative” hospital administrators push AI tools and robotic solutions, promising to replace or "augment" nurses instead of investing in human care.
The supposed “shortage” also justifies anti-labor rhetoric. When nurses organize, strike, or demand safe staffing, they’re cast as selfish or unrealistic. After all, shouldn’t they just be grateful to have jobs in a system that’s desperate for them?
Calling the Bluff
If there were a true shortage, we would see rising wages, sign-on bonuses, and long-term benefits. Instead, we see hospital administrators earning millions while bedside nurses struggle with burnout, PTSD, and poverty.
If there were a true shortage, hospitals wouldn’t fight tooth and nail against safe staffing legislation, like the kind passed in California. They’d welcome rules that make the work sustainable.
If there were a true shortage, we wouldn’t be flooding the system with underprepared students while bleeding experienced nurses.
And if nursing education was truly about solving the crisis, we would be making it free, community-based, and integrated with healthcare reform—not driven by predatory institutions or private equity.
Toward a Real Solution
The future of nursing—and healthcare—depends not on how many nurses we can mint from expensive degree programs, but on how we treat the ones we already have. Solutions must start with:
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Mandatory safe staffing ratios, nationally.
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Debt relief for nurses and free public nursing education.
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Mental health support and trauma-informed care for care workers.
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Union protections and fair contracts to reduce turnover and improve morale.
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Accountability for hospital administrators and investors who prioritize profits over people.
It’s time to end the charade. The nursing shortage is not a natural disaster—it’s a policy choice. And it’s killing both nurses and patients.
Sources:
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National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), 2024 Workforce Report
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American Nurses Foundation, Pulse on the Nation’s Nurses Survey Series
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National Nurses United: Safe Staffing and Workplace Violence Reports
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Center for Economic and Policy Research: "The Real Cause of the Nursing Crisis"
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The Guardian, “Private Equity and the Hollowing Out of U.S. Healthcare” (2023)
If you’re a nurse, nursing student, or former nurse with a story to tell, reach out to us at the Higher Education Inquirer. We’re listening.
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