Why are so many nurses leaving the bedside?

Many nurses are leaving the bedside due to the COVID-19 pandemic, burnout, and understaffed workplaces. Believe it or not, there are expected to be at least 500,000 seasoned nurses leaving by the end of 2022, creating a shortage of 1.1 million nurses.

• Pandemic: The COVID-19 pandemic has put a huge strain on nurses all over the country. To stay safe, nurses have had to wear protective equipment like N95 masks for several hours and work with far more patients. Discomfort, stress, and the potential of getting sick have caused many problems in the nursing field.

• Understaffing: A huge problem exacerbated by the pandemic, as more nurses leave the field, more nurses find their workloads increase. In this way, understaffing creates a vicious cycle that causes more bedside nurses to leave.

• Burnout: Overall, the pandemic and understaffing have led to huge levels of burnout amongst nurses. Nurses are simply overworked and put in hazardous situations, causing them to lose passion. Today, as many as 33% leave the bedside due to burnout.