Photo: Hamid Tajik/Unsplash
StatePoint Media -- According to a new survey, American nurses are overwhelmed by job demands, a long-brewing situation only exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. While the majority of nurses continue to be dedicated to the care of patients, many are considering leaving the profession at a time when staff shortages are part of the problem. But there’s hope, according to industry experts, who say that understanding these challenges can lead to meaningful and necessary reforms.
The 2022 national survey, “The Future of Nursing: A Profession in Crisis,” of nurses and student nurses, was conducted by Cross Country, a market-leading tech-enabled workforce solutions platform and advisory firm, in partnership with Florida Atlantic University’s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing.
Overall, the study revealed that nurses remain passionate about patient care, with 66% citing helping people through meaningful work as a main driver for staying in the field. Nevertheless, ongoing challenges have created undue burdens for nurses, with pay rates/compensation (86%), staff shortages (53%), stress (39%) and burnout (35%) cited as top career dissatisfiers.
This frustration has put the industry in crisis: 28% of nurses indicated their desire to leave the profession has increased dramatically since the pandemic, while those who said their desire to stay has dropped from 24% in 2021 to 4% in 2022. This translates to a real potential loss of talent in hospitals, physicians’ offices, long-term care facilities and other healthcare settings. Of those surveyed, 23% plan to look for a new career in 1-2 years and 13% plan to retire in 1-5 years.
“We had hoped that as the pandemic eased, nurses would have better balance, mental health and working conditions, but we are not there and as a result, nurses are leaving the profession in droves,” says John A. Martins, president and chief executive officer, Cross Country Healthcare. “The time to fix these mounting problems is now.”
To that end, Cross Country is deploying several strategies to transform the nursing profession. These include an ongoing examination of pay rates and retention practices; identifying new pathways for education, licensing, and talent development; focusing on flexibility and growth opportunities; and investments toward innovation to strengthen the nursing workforce.
The company continues to invest heavily in technology and digital transformation to support these strategies. Among these initiatives is a new website dedicated to nursing candidates. Found at crosscountry.com, the site aims to help health care professionals find and engage with potential job opportunities more effectively.
Identifying new pathways for nursing education is also a critical steppingstone towards reforming the profession and addressing healthcare provider shortages. That’s why the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing offers accredited programs at all levels to prepare and train students, including various tracks for a BSN, Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), PhD and DNP focused on Caring Science. Also offered are a BSN-DNP program with a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner concentration and post-graduate dermatology and telehealth certificate courses, as well as other concentrations that intersect innovation and technology.
“Nursing is the greatest profession in the world. The experience you will get is priceless,” said one of the survey respondents. “Make sure you’re getting into nursing for the right reasons because I love coming to work and look forward to caring for patients every day. No two patients are alike, so every day in nursing is like a new experience and adventure. And you make the difference.”
To learn more about the challenges facing the nursing industry, visit crosscountry.com/the-future-of-nursing, where the complete study results, can be found.
"In the past ten years, CCSAR has participated in several searches in Champaign County, as well as assisting with searches across central Illinois," it said in today's press release announcing this weekend's festivities.
Saturday's family-friendly event will several giveaways and prize drawings. Kids can learn how to survive in the woods if they become lost through the Hug-A-Tree presentation, a program specifically designed for children between the ages of 7 and 11, developed to educate children with a few of the most basic and vital survival principles. The program is also valuable for slightly younger and older children as well.
The open house will also offer various observational skill tests, valuable information on what to take on the trail with you on a hike, and a live demonstration by a tracking dog. A display with the equipment and tools used by the CCSAR team will also be available.
For more information on the event or about Champaign County Search and Rescue, contact John Dwyer at the Champaign County EMA by phone at 217-384-3826 or by email at 
Nearly five million foreign nationals have entered the United States since Biden became President. Some people call them undocumented immigrants, some call them unauthorized immigrants, many call them illegal immigrants. If they were entering the country legally with proper documentation then we would call them documented immigrants or legal immigrants.
Wyoming has 581,075 people. Have you ever been to Yellowstone National Park? Vermont has a population of 623,251 people. The District of Columbia has a population of 714,143 people. Alaska’s population is 724,357. North Dakota has 770, 026. South Dakota’s population is 896,581. The population of Delaware is 990,334. (Stats from populationreview.com). These seven states combined have a population of under 5.5 million people. To get a more accurate count I suppose we could drop off Wyoming and that would put us closer to the total number of foreign nationals who have illegally without documentation entered crossed our borders. In other words, our country has grown the population of at least six of our smallest populated states in six years.
However, there are no worries because densely populated states won’t remain that forever. We cannot add 4-5 million illegal immigrants every two years without having serious population issues in our nation.
What would a half million of these new unauthorized immigrants do to the state of Wyoming? What about Vermont? Would Vermont like to have a generous helping of a few hundred thousand people begging for housing and food?
The population of Kentucky is about 4.5 million people which is somewhere very close to the number of illegal immigrants. Where can Kentucky add a half million people? There are no jobs in East, Kentucky but a lot of devastation from the recent flooding. West Kentucky is still trying to rebuild from the worst tornadoes in history. What about Lexington or Woodford County? They still have a nice ten mile stretch of horse farms that could easily accommodate one-half million foreigners. Put these people to work giving bourbon tours.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron Desantis have the right idea, share the love. Open borders should never mean that Texas and other border states get all the love and joy of these millions of people coming illegally into America. Texas already has 30 million people. Florida has 22 million people. Plus, Texas and Florida get hot. Hot weather and crowds are not a good combination. Martha’s Vineyard has less than 20,000 people. The climate is cooler. The water is pretty and there is some good fishing in the area as well. I can see where immigrants would be content in this part of America. Rehoboth in Delaware would also be a nice spot for the undocumented foreigners. Rehoboth is where Joe Biden likes to stroll along the Boardwalk in this quaint costal Atlantic community of fine restaurants, shops and summer vacationers. The illegals could certainly transform this little community.
California has a population of 40 million people. New York has almost 20 million and Illinois has almost 13 million with Chicago exploding with its own problems. Do any of them really have the financial ability to care for another million people?
If we do not get control of our border and regulate the flood of people who are coming into this country illegally, soon we will not have a country.
Paul Arco
