COVID-19 and the supply and demand for Registered Nurses

Abstract

There are concerns that the future balance between the supply and demand for nurses will result in major nursing shortages around the world. Some think that nurses are leaving nursing because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the United States, nurses may be leaving their jobs, but not nursing. Enrollments in nursing programs have increased. Nurse migration to the United States has decreased. This paper, using examples from the United States mainly, aims to explore the issue of supply of nurses and argues that it is not clear that we will have a worldwide nursing shortage going forward.