Emergency department responses to nursing shortages
Dublin Core
Title
Emergency department responses to nursing shortages
Subject
COVID-19, Pandemics, Workforce, Nurses, Hospital emergency service
Description
Abstract
Background The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the nursing shortage, which is predicted to continue to worsen
with significant numbers of nurses planning to retire within the next 5 years. There remains a lack of published infor-
mation regarding recommended interventions for emergency departments (EDs) facing a sudden nursing shortage.
Methods We queried emergency department leaders from the American College of Emergency Physicians to exam-
ine the impact of nursing shortages on EDs and to gather real-world interventions employed to mitigate the effects
of the shortage.
Results Most respondents (98.5%) reported nursing shortages, with 83.3% describing prolonged shortages lasting
more than 12 months, with negative impacts such as misses/near-misses (93.9%) and increasing left without being
seen rates (90.9%). ED leaders reported a range of interventions, including operational flow changes, utilizing alterna-
tive staff to fill nurse roles, recruitment of new nurses, and retention strategies for existing nurses. They employed tem-
porary and permanent pay increases as well as efforts to improve the ED work environment and techniques to hire
new nurses from atypical pipelines.
Conclusion We report a patchwork of solutions ED leaders utilized which may have variable efficacy among different
EDs; personalization is essential when selecting interventions during a sudden nursing shortage.
Keywords COVID-19, Pandemics, Workforce, Nurses, Hospital emergency service
Background The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the nursing shortage, which is predicted to continue to worsen
with significant numbers of nurses planning to retire within the next 5 years. There remains a lack of published infor-
mation regarding recommended interventions for emergency departments (EDs) facing a sudden nursing shortage.
Methods We queried emergency department leaders from the American College of Emergency Physicians to exam-
ine the impact of nursing shortages on EDs and to gather real-world interventions employed to mitigate the effects
of the shortage.
Results Most respondents (98.5%) reported nursing shortages, with 83.3% describing prolonged shortages lasting
more than 12 months, with negative impacts such as misses/near-misses (93.9%) and increasing left without being
seen rates (90.9%). ED leaders reported a range of interventions, including operational flow changes, utilizing alterna-
tive staff to fill nurse roles, recruitment of new nurses, and retention strategies for existing nurses. They employed tem-
porary and permanent pay increases as well as efforts to improve the ED work environment and techniques to hire
new nurses from atypical pipelines.
Conclusion We report a patchwork of solutions ED leaders utilized which may have variable efficacy among different
EDs; personalization is essential when selecting interventions during a sudden nursing shortage.
Keywords COVID-19, Pandemics, Workforce, Nurses, Hospital emergency service
Creator
Nicole R. Hodgson1*, Richard Kwun2
, Chad Gorbatkin3
, Jeanie Davies4
, Jonathan Fisher4 and on behalf of the
ACEP Emergency Medicine Practice Committee
, Chad Gorbatkin3
, Jeanie Davies4
, Jonathan Fisher4 and on behalf of the
ACEP Emergency Medicine Practice Committee
Source
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12245-024-00628-y
Date
2024
Contributor
Peri Irawan
Format
pdf
Language
english
Type
text
Files
Collection
Citation
Nicole R. Hodgson1*, Richard Kwun2
, Chad Gorbatkin3
, Jeanie Davies4
, Jonathan Fisher4 and on behalf of the
ACEP Emergency Medicine Practice Committee, “Emergency department responses to nursing shortages,” Repository Horizon University Indonesia, accessed April 11, 2026, https://repository.horizon.ac.id/items/show/12334.