North Carolina grapples with growing nursing shortage

North Carolina faces an estimated nursing shortage of 12,500 workers by 2033.

One projection by the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill says long-term effects of the pandemic could cause that to jump to 18,600.

Braxton Nowell, UNC Health RN, has experienced the strain of a nursing shortage firsthand.

“One wonderful thing about medicine is people are living longer, healthier lives. However, we also have to have the nurses to take care of them,” he said.

The North Carolina native started working for UNC Health in January of 2020 as a nursing assistant.

“My grandmother is really my main reason for nursing,” Nowell explained. “I saw when she was in the hospital – she’s been hospitalized multiple times throughout my life – I saw the care she was given and how nurses advocated for her. I knew that’s what I wanted to do for people as well.”

He had only been on the job a mere three months before the healthcare system experienced an unprecedented shift in patient care due to a global pandemic.

“This unit was the COVID unit,” Nowell explained while showing WRAL News around the medicine progressive care unit at the Chapel Hill hospital.

Despite widespread burnout with healthcare as COVID cases climbed, Nowell continued his training. He graduated from UNC with a bachelor’s degree in nursing in 2022.

As UNC marks the recent graduation of 113 BSN students and another 70 graduate students from its school of nursing in Chapel Hill, Nowell hopes more students will follow suit to work in the Tar Heel State.

But, he says a lack of program space is a big issue.

“There’s not enough slots for people that want to be nurses. I think at UNC, they have 120 spots and I know they get more than 200 applications,” Nowell explained. “They always can’t give people who I know want to be nurses a slot.”

Kylie Goodman is in the midst of her first year in the accelerated bachelor of science nursing program through UNC.

“Originally I thought I wanted to be a dietitian but growing up I was always really passionate about healthcare,” said Goodman. “I’m very interested in the overall body as a whole and helping people who are sick more in that aspect.”

He and other nursing students take classes in Roper Hall with the School of Medicine while the university’s School of Nursing is demolished. A new building is expected to open in 2026. Officials say it will help the university reach its goal to increase nursing program capacity by 50%.

The UNC Health system currently has about 1,400 openings.

Goodman and dozens of others in the ABSN program are looking to one day fill some of those roles.

“I really do enjoy (pediatrics) but I also like adult,” Goodman shared. “I think trauma sounds interesting.”

When asked why she still wished to pursue a career in medicine in the wake of a global pandemic, Goodman said she just wanted to help people.

“Just to be able to come home from work today and say I know I made a difference in someone’s life,” she said. “Patients are in a stressful environment and they’re vulnerable. I want to be that person to help them in those situations.”

She added, being a student during such a difficult time makes her better equipped to handle a stressful career like nursing.

“I think the ability to adapt is really going to help me in this career and the ability to just take things as they come and adjust to them,” Goodman said.

US News and World Reports ranks Duke’s undergraduate nursing program the best in the country. UNC is ranked No. 4.

Terry McDonnell, senior vice president and chief nurse executive for Duke University Health System, said Duke’s current nurse vacancy rate “is less than 1%.” McDonnell said this is due to the use of “team-based models” used to provide care.

McDonnell added, “Duke nursing care benefits from partnership with the Watts School of Nursing and close collaboration with Duke University School of Nursing, Durham Tech and Wake Tech, as well as by undergoing efforts to reduce administrative burdens on nurses.”