Do you have questions about the nursing workforce in Oregon? Don’t worry; you’re not alone. Here are some common questions we get:
How many nurses does Oregon have compared to how many it needs?
In 2022, Oregon had more than 73,000 people licensed to practice nursing. And an estimated 55,000 people are practicing nursing in the state. According to the Oregon Employment Department (OED), Oregon will have more than 29,000 openings for nursing jobs through 2032. OED’s openings do not include nurses who work in non-direct patient care roles, such as nurse educators, administrators, policy analysts, etc.
How long has Oregon been short on nurses?
The shortage of nurses in the workforce nationally has been documented since the 1940s. In Oregon, a 1999 report described the nursing shortage and provided recommendations to avert a crisis. In fact, the Oregon Center for Nursing was formed in 2002 specifically to advance solutions that would address the nursing shortage.
Through our research and work with nursing education, practice, and policy in Oregon, we’ve learned a lot about the shortage. We are uncovering more strategies to help Oregonians get the nursing care they need when and wherever they need it.
Is the shortage because there aren’t enough people graduating from nursing school?
Partly. Currently, Oregon has 17 associate degree registered nurse programs and six bachelor degree registered nurse programs. In 2022, those programs graduated slightly more than 1,300 new nurse graduates.
The 2022 OED report projects Oregon will have about 29,000 openings by 2032. If you break that out to an annual number, Oregon will need an average of 2,900 new nurses every year between 2022 and 2032 to meet the need. This number alone means Oregon programs are about 1,600 nurses short every year to meet the projection.
Why can’t nursing schools educate more people? Do not enough people want to become a nurse?
Growing Oregon’s nursing programs has been a big challenge. Ask any nurse educator, and you’ll hear two main reasons: the difficulty in finding nurse faculty and in securing adequate clinical placements.
They’ll also tell you that being a nurse faculty is challenging for three reasons:
- Lower annual compensation than nurses working in a hospital setting. Most nurse educator contracts are based on a 9-month academic year,
- High workload as nurse faculty with little support
- A difficult work environment with a constant balancing of organizational, state, national, and professional regulations and accreditations.
OCN interviewed healthcare agencies and educators in 2020. These professionals reported finding clinical experiences for student nurses is challenging due to:
- The complicated and stressful process of finding the appropriate learning experience for students,
- the high workload demands for staff, which limits adequate attention to students, and
- the high quantity of students needing placements in a particular geographic or practice area.
The demand to attend nursing school is high. In 2020, about 6,800 qualified student applications were submitted to an Oregon nursing program. However, because of restrictions on faculty and clinical placements, only 25 percent were accepted.
How is the nurse shortage making it harder to get care?
When there are not enough nurses in all settings where nurses practice, there are interruptions in accessing care. Patients who are too sick to be discharged to home but aren’t sick enough to be in the hospital can find themselves stuck. Especially if there aren’t enough nurses working in a skilled nursing facility or another post-acute care setting. If there aren’t enough nurses, especially in rural communities, some services are discontinued. And some licensed hospital beds would become unavailable due to the lack of staff.
Do you have other questions? Let us know!
