Nursing

Healthcare workforce shortages are affecting all aspects of patient care, and the shortages are only expected to get worse. The American Nurses Association recently called upon Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to declare the ongoing nursing shortage to be a national crisis.

This year, during National Nurses Week—an annual event celebrated on May 6-12 to honor the late Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing—industry leaders extended the 2020 theme “Year of the Nurse” into 2021. This recognition builds on the increased visibility of nurses’ contributions from last year as they continue to be at the forefront of battling COVID-19.

As I compile PreCheck’s annual list of most popular blog posts this year, I am reminded of everything that we faced in 2020. In a year that transformed the world via the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, PreCheck and our parent company Cisive focused on providing resources for employers and clients to overcome the challenges presented by the coronavirus.

The end of 2019 signaled the beginning of a new paradigm in healthcare. The World Health Organization named 2020 the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife to highlight the vital role nurses play in healthcare delivery. Global health organizations sparked this initiative before COVID-19 emerged, and with cases continuing to spike across the globe, the role of nurses has never been more critical.

This year marks a special time for the nursing profession. Beginning today, National Nurses Week—an annual event held May 6-12 to honor the late Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing—will not only recognize the critical role nurses play in our healthcare system, but it will also celebrate Florence’s 200^th birthday. Her innovative ideas and contributions helped to shape the way nursing is practiced today.

As we begin a new decade in 2020, here’s a look back at the most popular posts from the previous year. 2019 was a year with a heightened focus on compliance for employers as I-9 and E-Verify updates are enacted combined with no shortage of state marijuana legislation limiting how employers can drug test their workforce. The nursing talent shortage, healthcare compliance and recruitment conference takeaways, workforce diversity, and employment drug testing are all topics that were most popular among our readers in the past year.

Nurses are a critical part of the healthcare workforce, so the ongoing nursing shortage is a big challenge. Research by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses says that while nurses report being highly satisfied with their career path, 54 percent said they plan to leave their current job within three years.

This week, National Nurses Week, is an annual event held May 6-12 to not only honor the late Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, but also to celebrate the nursing profession and the important role nurses play in providing the highest level of quality care to their patients. This year’s theme, “4 Million Reasons to Celebrate,” aims to recognize the vast contributions and positive impact of America’s four million registered nurses as well as their ongoing commitment to their work.

Healthcare organizations have one mission—to provide quality care to patients. And nurses are integral to accomplishing that mission.

For healthcare organizations facing a hyper-competitive market and an aging customer base that requires more care, contingent staffing, also known as supplemental staffing, can play an integral role in HR's strategic planning process as a means to acquire on-demand, qualified healthcare talent.