Nurses Shortage

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Sam Fettig
(c) 612-741-0662
sam.fettig@mnnurses.org
Lauren Nielsen
(c) 651-376-9709
lauren.nielsen@mnnurses.org

New report from Board of Nursing underscores that there is no workforce shortage, but a crisis of retention in our hospitals
Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act advancing at the legislature to address retention, short staffing, and patient care

(St. Paul) – April 25, 2023 – New data just released by the Minnesota Board of Nursing shows that the state has added 8,000 new Registered Nurses so far since 2022, bringing the total number licensed in the state to more than 130,000.
… Read more about: Minnesota adds 8,000 registered nurses this year, over 130,000 now licensed in state    »

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Sam Fettig
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
sam.fettig@mnnurses.org
Lauren Nielsen
(o) 651-414-2862
(c) 651-376-9709
lauren.nielsen@mnnurses.org

(St. Paul) – May 2, 2022 – Minnesota nurses celebrated passage of the Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act by the Minnesota House of Representatives today. The act, designed to retain nurses and protect patient care, passed the House as part of the Health & Human Services omnibus bill. While Minnesota nurses raised the alarm about chronic understaffing by hospital CEOs for years, today’s action is the first-ever vote by a body of the Minnesota Legislature to hold hospital executives accountable to provide safe staffing levels for patients and nurses in our hospitals.
… Read more about: Nurses celebrate historic passage of Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act in Minnesota House, urge Senate action  »

MEDIA ADVISORY

Contact: Sam Fettig
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
sam.fettig@mnnurses.org

Lauren Nielsen
(o) 651-414-2862
(c) 651-376-9709
lauren.nielsen@mnnurses.org

(St. Paul) – May 2, 2022 – Minnesota nurses will gather at the State Capitol tomorrow as the Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act comes to a vote in the Minnesota House of Representatives as part of the House Health & Human Services omnibus bill.

Nurses will encourage and cheer on passage of the act, which would retain nurses and protect patient care by establishing local, flexible, hospital-based committees of nurses and managers to set staffing levels on a unit-by-unit basis, including a limit on the number of patients for which any one nurse can safely care.
… Read more about: Nurses to Gather at Capitol Tomorrow as House Votes on Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act in Omnibus Bill  »

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Sam Fettig
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
sam.fettig@mnnurses.org

Lauren Nielsen
(o) 651-414-2862
(c) 651-376-9709
lauren.nielsen@mnnurses.org

Act to retain nurses and protect patient care included in omnibus released today, bringing it closer to vote in the Minnesota House

(St. Paul) – April 6, 2022 – Members of the Minnesota Nurses Association applauded the inclusion of the Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act in the Minnesota House Health Omnibus Bill released today (sec. 27, line 38.12). The act would address the short-staffing and retention crisis to protect patient care in Minnesota by establishing local, flexible, hospital-based committees of nurses and managers who would work together to set staffing levels on a unit-by-unit basis, including a limit on the number of patients for which any one nurse is responsible.
… Read more about: Nurses applaud inclusion of Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act in House Health Omnibus Bill  »

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Sam Fettig
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
sam.fettig@mnnurses.org

Lauren Nielsen
(o) 651-414-2862
(c) 651-376-9709
lauren.nielsen@mnnurses.org

(St. Paul) – March 31, 2022 – Minnesota nurses released a new report today – “Why We Left: 2022 Nursing Workforce Report” – which identifies poor hospital management and chronic short staffing as the top issues driving nurses away from bedside care. In a roundtable discussion at the State Capitol today, nurses who retired early or left full-time bedside care positions shared stories of their experiences, including why they left and what it would have taken for them to stay.
… Read more about: Minnesota nurses share ‘Why We Left’ the bedside in new report, call for solutions to staffing and retention crisis  »

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Sam Fettig
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
sam.fettig@mnnurses.org

Lauren Nielsen
(o) 651-414-2862
(c) 651-376-9709
lauren.nielsen@mnnurses.org

Bill laid over for inclusion in the House Omnibus Health Bill, marking it a top-priority health issue for the House Majority Caucus

LISTEN: Audio of this afternoon’s committee hearing, with discussion on this topic beginning at 39:15, can be found at this link.

WATCH: Once it is available, video from this afternoon’s committee hearing will be available at this link.
… Read more about: Nurses testify to need for Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act to retain nurses and protect patient care in first committee hearing  »

By Mathew Keller, RN, JD

MNA Nursing Policy and Practice Specialist

As this blog detailed last year, fears of a nursing shortage in Minnesota are somewhat unfounded. In fact, at the time, Minnesota was licensing more than three Registered Nurses for every new job opening in the state.

We’ve crunched the numbers once again this year, and it turns out the trend of licensing more RNs than there are jobs for continues. Add to this the fact that the number of job openings for RNs in the state actually decreased last year, and you have a recipe for plenty of competition over every available RN job.
… Read more about: Is There a Nursing Shortage? Part 2  »