It’s no secret there is a nursing shortage across the country. About 100,000 registered nurses left the workforce over the past two years due to stress, burnout and retirements. Another 610,000 have stated a plan in leaving by 2027, according to a study done last year by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. 

To stem the tide, some healthcare organizations are offering sizeable sign-on bonuses to new nurses and retention bonuses to current staff.

But there’s another approach that is proving successful – enticing more students to enter the nursing profession.

Dr. Charlene Aaron is the president of the OSF colleges of nursing – Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing in Peoria and Saint Anthony College of Nursing in Rockford. In her first year as president, the OSF colleges of nursing experienced a 42% increase in enrollment in the fall 2023 semester. Most of the enrollment has been into the graduate program, with approximately 15% in the undergraduate program.

“We have more and more calls and inquiries about coming to our colleges," she says. “Enrollment is on the way up, because people are understanding that a nursing career is a solid career. They will always have a job and are learning more and more about the variety of how they can spend their career in nursing.” 

Dr. Aaron calls the next wave of experienced nurses retiring a ‘silver tsunami.’ And not just in hospitals, but medical groups, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities are also hiring additional staff. Of course, she says, the COVID-pandemic contributed to many of the stressors that nurses face daily. But the pandemic spurred others to choose a career in nursing as well - many of whom persevered during a global crisis. 

“It just showed the strength, stamina, and savvy that nurses have because they were able to do what nurses do, which is show up for duty on time and provide holistic care to every patient they cared for," she says. "They were there to provide care and support for families and get them through that process as well. And that is impressive.”

Dr. Aaron says nursing colleges need to think outside the box when recruiting students. And that includes finding more male students.

According to the American Nurses Association, the percentage of male nurses is about 13%. While that number has risen over the years, Dr. Aaron says it’s still an area of untapped potential for any medical facility.

“There are so many different ways that a nurse can practice, and it does not have to be at the bedside – things like informatics which means using data working from a computer,” she says. “Insurance companies employ registered nurses and want to hire nurses who are fluent with technology. So that's just one opportunity for men to practice as nurses.”

Dr. Aaron plans to introduce a program called nursing pipeline preparatory program (NP3). It’s a program that takes nursing schools like OSF into area high schools to introduce the students to a potential nursing career. The high school students can tour the colleges of nursing, shadow faculty members, and get an up-close look at how nursing students learn their craft.

“It’s just fascinating,” says Dr. Aaron. “The students love it, and it allows them a chance to have hands on activities just like nurses do, so that they can begin to imagine themselves working in a nursing role.”

OSF HealthCare now offers a 12-month accelerated nursing program which may also entice future students. The program started at Saint Francis Medical Center in October 2023 and will be available at Saint Anthony College in the fall. At the completion of this program, the student will receive a BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) and will sit for the NCLEX (nursing boards) exam shortly after graduation and become a registered nurse.

Dr. Aaron says the options are endless when it comes to a career in nursing.

“It's so exciting because there are so many different types of nursing that you can do,” she says. “If you want to practice in one area, but if you get a little restless you might try something different. You can do that. It’s just a wonderful profession. You'll never be bored. Never.”

For more information on a career in nursing, visit the Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing or the Saint Anthony College of Nursing. 
 

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Heather Bomstad grew up knowing she wanted to help people who were sick and in need of care. So she followed in her aunt’s footsteps and became a registered nurse, working her way up the ranks to where she is today – chief nursing officer for OSF Healthcare Saint Elizabeth Medical Center in Ottawa, Illinois and Saint Paul Medical Center in Mendota, Illinois.

Bomstad has seen many changes over the past two decades, and now she, along with many other nursing leaders across the country, are seeking ways to combat a worrisome trend when it comes to a nursing shortage.

“The state of nursing right now is definitely gone through its challenges, especially since the pandemic started a couple of years ago," she says. "Early on we didn't know what to expect out of it and it was just a whole different vibe, but then going through it and seeing how our patients were struggling and the very, very sick, and the high volumes that we were having really took a toll on nurses, which then has really made some nurses want to leave health care in general, unfortunately. Some just needed to do something different maybe in healthcare, but just a different type of nursing, which has made shortages in various areas of nursing.”

There are approximately 3.9 million registered nurses in the U.S., but the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts that more than 500,000 nurses will retired by the end of 2022. But there are other factors to the shortage as well, and the BLS estimates that more than one million new registered nurses will be needed to prevent a shortage.

“Burnout I would say is probably the number one reason that people are thinking long and hard (about leaving),"  says Bomstad. "This is stressful work and it is, but yet very gratifying work, but many are wondering if they need to do something different. It breaks my heart to see nurses go into a whole different career path when you know, they set out to take care of people early on, but it's indeed happening.”

One way OSF HealthCare is bridging that gap is turning to graduating students from its two colleges of nursing, in Peoria and Rockford. The colleges offer students a variety of degrees and practical hands-on experience that has become more vital since the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

“Years ago, you could say that when we had new graduate nurses they tended to go to more of our medical floor or surgical floors. We always wanted them to get that experience first before going to any specialty, to an ICU to an ER to a pediatric unit, OB – whatever the case may be," says Bomstad.  "But coming out of this, we're thinking differently. If their heart is set and their passion is to be in a certain specialty area, we are now hiring them into those areas.”

Health care leaders are taking a closer look at everything – including encouraging more flexible hours and work/life balance – to ensure the health and satisfaction of all nurses, both those new to the field as well as the long-tenured professionals.

Despite the many challenges, Bomstad says she wouldn’t change a thing in her career, and encourages others to seek out the many opportunities that exist in health care.

“I went into nursing to care for people and I would hope that every nurse that goes into it knows what they're getting into and that's the true reason – really caring for the patient, their families," she says. "They're coming to us in their most vulnerable time. They need that help, that communication, and it is still a very gratifying career to go into and I really hope and encourage young people to go into nursing. It is still a fabulous profession.”

The OSF colleges of nursing in Peoria and Rockford offer traditional and online BSN, MSN, and DNP degree programs for students interested in a career in nursing. The process deadline for the spring 2023 semester is December 1, 2022. For more information, visit Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing and Saint Anthony College of Nursing.

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