Nursing shortages are being reported across the country, but there’s also rising interest in this critically important profession.

This hour, hear from nurses entering the field in our state, and from nursing educators and experts about why the term “burnout” doesn’t capture what’s driving the shortage. University of Saint Joseph professor Heather Evans prefers the term “moral distress.”

Nurses are by nature the noticers, the canaries in the coal mine, but the conditions of the pandemic have prompted reports of higher-than-average nurse-to-patient ratios, exacerbating a long-looming shortage. As nurse and author Theresa Brown wrote, "nurses are not an infinitely elastic resource; they’re people, many of whom are exhausted, traumatized, barely holding themselves together. It’s time to really see and care for them."

What are the barriers to keeping new nurses in the field?

GUESTS:

• Theresa Brown, PhD, BSN, RN - Nurse; Author, “Healing: When A Nurse Becomes a Patient” (2022)
• Heather Evans, Ph.D., RNC-MNN, CLC - Nurse; Assistant Professor of Nursing, University of Saint Joseph
• Victoria Rufo, RN - Nurse; Student, University of Saint Joseph
• Tori Johnston, CNA - Nurse; Student, Quinnipiac University

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