Addressing Registered Nurse Shortages in Hospitals

In January 2024, ACHE conducted a survey of hospital CEOs to learn more about the causes of workforce shortages and how hospitals are addressing the issue. Of the 1,633 who received the survey, 350 responded, for an overall response rate of 21%.

Hospital CEOs were asked to name the top three staffing shortages they were experiencing. They reported their top staffing shortages as follows: 71% of responses indicated a shortage of registered nurses, 50% identified a lack of medical technicians and 35% cited a shortage of physicians. Eighteen percent of respondents specified a shortage of specialists, while 17% noted a shortage of primary care physicians.

The reasons for the registered nurse shortages in hospitals, as reported by survey respondents, are listed in Table 1. The most common ways in which hospitals are addressing these shortages are listed in Table 2. Other strategies to address registered nurse shortages reported by a small number of respondents included forming relationships with schools to produce more graduates (3), starting training programs or a new school (3), recruiting foreign nurses (4), using an internal agency (3), providing loan repayment and/or tuition assistance (3), increasing pay or career advancement incentives (3), changing the work culture and increasing the engagement of staff (1).

ACHE wishes to thank those who responded to this survey for their time, consideration and service to their profession and to healthcare leadership research.

Table 1: Reasons for registered nurse staffing shortages

Table 2: How organizations are addressing registered nurse staffing shortages