Emory University announced on Monday that the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University and the Georgia Nursing Leadership Coalition (GNLC) have partnered to house the Georgia Nursing Workforce Center within Emory School of Nursing. Dedicated to addressing Georgia’s nursing shortage, a state with one of the lowest ratios of nurses per 100,000 residents, the center researches statewide supply and demand challenges for local nurses.
“The situation facing nursing is serious and consequential,” Linda McCauley, PhD, RN, FAAN, FRCN, dean of the Emory School of Nursing, noted in a press release. “The shortage of nurses has long been an issue, and now there are other concerns – insufficient nursing faculty numbers, COVID-related overwhelm, and swelling nursing demand due to the aging population – that have added fuel to the fire.”
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. will have roughly 203,200 job openings for registered nurses each year between now and 2031. A total of 100,000 U.S. nurses have reportedly already left the workforce due to work-related stresses exasperated by the pandemic.
“We need consistent data and solutions-minded collaborations to make nursing workforce decisions in this climate,” McCauley said. “We are excited to partner with the Georgia Nursing Leadership Coalition and other state agencies and organizations to lead this effort.”
To mend the local nursing shortage, the Georgia Nursing Workforce Center will work to address retention, recruitment, educational capacity and the distribution of nursing workforce resources through research.
“A healthy and well nursing workforce is key to a healthy and well Georgia,” Chelsea Hagopian, DNP, APRN, AGACNP-BC, assistant clinical professor at the School of Nursing, said in a press release. “The opportunity for learning and community with this center will help to strengthen and promote a diverse, inclusive, and equity-minded nursing workforce, prepared and supported to meet Georgia’s health and care needs. Being a part of this important collaborative work is a privilege and a joy.”
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