How COVID-19 has impacted the nursing workforce
Our guest for this episode is Dr. Joanne Spetz, a professor of Health Policy Studies, Family and Community Medicine, and Nursing at UCSF. She’s also a researcher who focuses on the economics of the healthcare workforce, and her insights into the nursing workforce are more relevant than ever in the midst of a pandemic that has stretched our supply of nurses to the breaking point.
In this conversation, Joanne talks with Dr. Nurse Dan about the trends she’s seeing across the profession, including a disturbing acceleration of retirements and nurses leaving the workforce. She previews insights from the bi-annual study she does in partnership with the California Board of Nursing, which looked at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the state’s nurses this year. Joanne also shares her thoughts on how we can better use data to inform everything from healthcare policy to education to hiring and training.
Links to recommended reading:
- Forecasts of the Registered Nurse Workforce in California (2019)
- Survey of Registered Nurses – California Board of Nursing (2018)
- Additional California Board of Nursing reports
The full transcript for this episode can be found here: https://www.trustedhealth.com/the-handoff-podcast/joanne-spetz