To alleviate the New Jersey nursing shortage, an anonymous donor created a $2 million nursing scholarship for first-generation students. New Jersey—especially Essex County—needs nurses. Now, one Newark high school and a generous donor to Rutgers School of Nursing is poised to create a new pipeline for nurses from and for the region.
By 2021, the relentless toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on health care workers led to a nationwide nurse vacancy rate of 17 percent, according to the 2022 NSI National Health Care Retention and RN Staffing Report. The New Jersey Collaborating Center for Nursing, a nonprofit housed at the School of Nursing in Newark focused on nursing workforce solutions, found that demand was high for nurses across the state. And the problem is particularly acute in Essex County, where health care systems and other employers posted more than 1,100 nursing job openings in 2021—the highest of any county in the state. To read the full story.