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Florida has a nursing shortage

Nursing burnout is considered the top effect of a hospital staff stretched too thin.
Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
A nurse at a doctor's office, stock image.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A growing and aging population, coupled with few people entering the workforce, make Florida among the top states experiencing a shortage of nurses.

It's not the most positive prognosis during National Nursing Week, celebrating the nation's 4 million health care professionals.

Florida, Georgia, California and Texas combined make up about 40 percent of the nursing shortfall across the county, according to a 2018 Moody's report. Among the effects of the shortage is the most obvious: Rasmussen College says a short-staffed hospital often leads to nursing burnout.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, registered nurses are the fifth-largest occupation in the Tampa Bay area, and yet, there remains a need.

BayCare Health System has more than 440 open registered nurse-related positions across the region on its website. Tampa General Hospital lists more than 100 openings.

AdventHealth has 35 pages of nursing jobs across Florida posted on its site.

A Gallup poll released late last year found nurses outpace other occupations for honesty and ethics.

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