Commenting on Nurses' conditions during COVID time Patricia Pittman, Ph.D., director of the Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. explains: “There’s a feeling of betrayal by the society,”  “There’s incredible frustration that this was avoidable.” 

Health field leaders have been warning for years that hospitals face a nursing shortage. One widely cited study projects a shortfall of 510,394 registered nurses by 2030. The main reasons, according to such groups as the American Nurses Association, are waves of baby boomer nurses entering retirement age, an aging population that will require more medical care (and more doctors and nurses), faculty shortages that limit the capacity of nursing schools to accept more students, and more nurses moving away from direct patient care or leaving the health field altogether because of stress.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the ongoing shortage of health workers, leaving many health care facilities short-staffed even as the number of nationwide coronavirus cases plummets, experts say.

"Nurse shortages are a long-standing issue, but because of COVID, it is anticipated to grow even more by next year," Dr. Ernest Grant, president of the American Nurses Association, told ABC News. "Nurses and other health workers are overworked and they are exhausted from the pandemic."

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Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans are significantly underrepresented in U.S. health professions, with little indication that diversity will improve, a new study says.

In 2019, Black people made up about 12.1% of the U.S. workforce, but their representation in 10 health professions studied ranged from 3.3% for physical therapists to 11.4% for respiratory therapists.

WASHINGTON (March 31, 2021)  — In 2019, Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans were severely underrepresented in the health care workforce, a trend that shows limited signs of improvement, according to a study published today by George Washington University researchers.