ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N.C. — The need for nurses in North Carolina could increase in the next few years. 

 

What You Need To Know

  • North Carolina needs more than 13,000 nurses by 2026 to close the shortage
  • In the next five years, 900,000 nurses will permanently leave the profession
  • One in five health care workers left their job during the first two years of the pandemic 

 

Years of fighting on the front lines against COVID-19 has pushed many to retire from the profession. As of February 2022, one in five health care workers have left their job creating a need for 1.1 million nurses by 2026.

According to a study by asset management company, Mercer, North Carolina could be one of the top five states with the greatest need for nurses, needing more than 13,000 by 2026. 

The North Carolina Glaxo-Smith-Kline Foundation recognized this need and granted $2 million to six rural-area community college nursing programs to help boost retention and graduation rates. Nash, Southwestern, Halifax, Isothermal, McDowell and Vance-Granville community colleges received the funding. 

Abby Lucas returned to Rockingham Community College to study nursing after a career as a surgical technician. She wanted to be more involved in helping patients in their recovery. Lucas has seen first-hand the strain the nursing shortage has had on the health care system. 

“Hospitals, doctor's office, everyone’s feeling the shortage and patients are suffering from the shortage because they can’t get the care that they need,” she said. 

Lucas is set to graduate in May 2023, and she’s excited to know she and her classmates will be able to relieve some of the pressure on nurses who are spread thin. She encourages others to consider nursing as a career because the constant need for health care professionals provides job security. 

“We will be out there helping people to get the care that they need and relieving some of that anxiety and tension from the nurses as well who are stressed because they don’t have the help that they need either. So, not only will we get to help patients get the care they need, we get to help out other nurses who are feeling the effects of burnout due to short staffing,” she said. 

For more information on the need for nurses, click here.