Abstract

The current nursing shortage is a critical migration problem predicted to create a continual dearth within healthcare that will severely impact patient outcomes and inevitably affect health disparities. The forecast for 2025 dictates a 10 to 20 percent nursing gap as the number of patients needing care exceeds the number of nurses. Since this shortage has been predicted since the 1990s, why are there not more nurses in circulation? The need for nurses exists, there are people who want to become nurses, and yet there are not enough nurses. Where and what exactly is the problem? Why are nursing schools turning away students who want to become nurses, and how has this now become a societal need? This article addresses known problems and challenges addressing the critical migration of nurses, in addition to several potential strategies that, if enacted with the appropriate financial incentives, can start to change this tide of danger. Without change, there will be ruin that will affect not just the health of the nation, but will become a global pandemic, if not addressed immediately.