Shortage of registered nurses in Wisconsin

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) – By 2040, Wisconsin could have a deficit of 12,000 to 19,000 nurses, that’s according to Wisconsin’s Department of Workforce Development. Nursing shortages are currently a challenge, yet there are efforts to combat them.

With a constant need for their services, nurses are vital to the healthcare landscape.

“They’re the communicator between every area of health care and really ensuring that holistic care happens for every single patient,” Gina Petrie, the Chippewa Valley Technical College Dean of Nursing, said.

Filling openings for registered nurses though can be a challenge at a time when demand is only getting higher.

“Two out of every three RNs working in Wisconsin work for hospitals and health systems and so a nursing shortage is disproportionately impactful on hospitals,” Ann Zenk, the Senior Vice President of Workforce and Clinical Practice at the Wisconsin Hospital Association, said. “Not just because nurses form such a large portion of our workforce, but also because nurses can fill so many roles on healthcare teams.”

“It’s hard to predict exactly how many nurses are needed at any given point in time in the future right here in Eau Claire,” Petrie said. “But we do know that we have an aging population and that we need nurses to take care of us. They’re vital to the health care workforce.”

Petrie said the issue isn’t from people not wanting to go into the healthcare field, the challenge is providing the amount of care that’s needed.

“I think we had a little bit of a downfall with the pandemic, but we’ve continued to maintain the same number of seats that we’ve had in our nursing program and we’ve definitely seen an uptick in the number of people interested in coming into that program,” Petrie said.

“We need to grow our nursing workforce faster but with the demographic components of our state, with the aging of our state population, demand is probably going to increase faster than we can grow the nursing workforce,” Zenk said.

There’s not an easy solution. Nursing schools, hospitals and health systems are continually looking to train and retain more staff while hoping to meet the growing demand.

Zenk said CVTC has a variety of programs aiming to garner more interest in health care, including hosting high school academies meant to introduce students to the field.

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