Reply To: A Great article about quelling the nursing shortage. Short and sweet

[Francis Tesoriere]

Thank you for sharing this thought-provoking opinion piece. Reading it for the first time here in August, it’s interesting to point out that it was written in March and essentially predicted the biggest problem our healthcare system is facing at present: a nursing shortage. Many parallels were drawn between today’s coronavirus pandemic and previous pandemic/epidemics of the past century. It’s disheartening to realize that more could be done to combat this nursing shortage than what we’re seeing today. If the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise, we can anticipate the nursing shortage only getting worse. In times like this, we should be encouraging and providing a pathway for nursing students or those wishing to get into a career like nursing. We should also be allowing APRN’s to practice to the fullest extent of their capabilities, as stated in the article. In California, the California Health Corps took an interesting first step at directing current and future nurses (and other healthcare professionals) towards the collective effort to combat COVID-19 at the onset of this pandemic.