The North Dakota Center for Nursing has been tracking the supply and demand of nurses in the state for the past 14 years.
Executive Director Patricia Moulton says workforce research on nurses in North Dakota helps to track the development of nurses through educational programs all the way to employment. She says the supply of nurses determines the overall backbone of health care. She says in the early 2000s, nursing education systems doubled their enrollment to address a looming shortage of registered nurses. She says that helped quite a bit, but there are still areas in North Dakota where the supply is short.
"Certainly we had the oil boom that led to the need for more nurses and I know that's leveled out - but there is still a large population there that will still need nursing care. That continues to be a problem area. The interesting thing about rural settings is you might only have one or two nurses on shift, for instance, in a critical access hospital, well - if you lose one of them to retirement, you're now short half your work force."
Moulton says urban areas also struggle to keep up with demand for nurses. She says when new hospitals and clinics go up in communities like Fargo, Bismarck or Grand Forks, the need increases.
"Every time you see an announcement about a new hospital or a new clinic, or there's now four new plastic surgeons... all of those require nurses. So any time you expand your health care systems or your offerings in any of the facilities, they all require more nurses."
Moulton says on average, about 20 percent of the nursing workforce is retiring every 5 years - but registered nursing education programs continue to be at capacity. She says that does help to address the need, but there is also a large shortage of licensed practical nurses as well - many of whom work in long term care facilities. Moutlon says going forward, nursing education programs are coordinating with each other to fill all their spots. She says work is also being done on setting up loan repayment programs as incentives for potential nurses.
