![\"Registered](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/STT-L-GCMC-0305-01-2.jpg\")
Registered nurse Jodi Spotts works in a recently renovated unit that expands inpatient capacity at the Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\nGeisinger officials say they\u2019ve taken many steps to attract and retain nurses amid a nationwide shortage:<\/p>\n
\u2022\u2002Partnering with high schools through cooperative programs to spur interest and build the pipeline.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u2002Offering an externship program where college students receive exposure to the profession.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u2002Providing scholarships for current employees to return to school.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u2002Offering residency and fellowship programs.<\/p>\n
Still, it\u2019s a problem not likely to go away soon.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that demand for most advanced practice registered nurses will grow 35% by 2034 and estimates that about 189,100 openings for registered nurses will be projected each year, on average, over the decade, according to a statement from the American Nurses Association.<\/p>\n
The ANA \u2014 which advocates for policies that expand access to nursing education and supports nurses practicing to the fullest extent of their education and clinical training \u2014 opposes a proposed U.S. Department of Education rule that would remove nursing from its current classification of a professional degree, ANA officials said in the statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith faculty shortages and the cost of advanced education already constraining Bachelor of Science and graduate program capacity, limiting access to federal post-baccalaureate loans would create new barriers at the exact moment our healthcare system depends on more nurses pursuing advanced education,\u201d ANA officials added.<\/p>\n
Janet Tomcavage, chief nursing executive for Geisinger, noted nursing schools struggle to recruit enough faculty and therefore must limit the number of enrollments<\/p>\n
According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing report on 2023-2024 Enrollment and Graduations in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing, U.S. nursing schools turned away 65,766 qualified applications from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs in 2023 due to insufficient number of faculty, clinical sites, classroom space and clinical preceptors, as well as budget constraints.<\/p>\n
With Geisinger being a rural healthcare system, Tomcavage also stressed many students, even those from the local area, choose to pursue a career in larger metro areas like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Atlanta after graduation.<\/p>\n
She added an aging population across the region also impacts the workforce.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur only growing demographic here in Northeastern Pennsylvania is really over 65,\u201d Tomcavage said. \u201cIf the younger population is not here, I don\u2019t have a workforce. The second thing is it increases the demand we have for healthcare services, which increases demand for nursing. Our hospitals are more full than they\u2019ve ever been. We are having to expand \u2014 we have a tower going up in Danville, we have an extra tower in Wilkes-Barre, and we\u2019ve added rooms in Scranton because we\u2019re being pushed over capacity. We have a couple challenges we\u2019re faced with that I don\u2019t think are going to go away anytime soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
In recent years, Geisinger expanded its outreach to a younger group of prospective future employees.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a very strong cooperative program with about 72 or 73 high schools,\u201d Tomcavage said. \u201cWe have to get 10th and 11th graders interested in the health sciences. They work during their school year for high school credits and get exposure to nursing and other healthcare areas. It\u2019s been very helpful because those students often stay, work in the summer as an unlicensed worker, and then get interested and go into nursing in the fall.\u201d<\/p>\n
An externship program for college students between their junior and senior years has also proved fruitful for Geisinger, Tomcavage said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hire those students in their summer break to come work with us,\u201d she said. \u201cThey get paid, assigned to a nurse and they work that nurse\u2019s shift \u2014 weekends, nights \u2014 just so they really get exposed to nursing. It has a phenomenal way of enhancing their skills and has really served us well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recently, Geisinger officials recruited about 80% of the externs from the 2025 group at the Danville location to start working at the hospital this summer, Tomcavage said. Additionally, hospitals in the northeast region recruited about 75% of their externs.<\/p>\n
Current employees also have access to certain perks, Tomcavage said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also offer a pretty robust scholarship program for our own employees who want to go back to nursing school,\u201d she said. \u201cWe offer $40,000, so depending on the program that covers pretty much two years of education in our community colleges and state schools.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since 2021, the Nursing and Health Sciences Scholars Program has supported more than 550 employees in advancing into nursing and health science careers, including roughly 500 registered nurses, Geisinger officials said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you retain, you don\u2019t need to recruit. So we\u2019ve put a lot of emphasis on retention,\u201d Tomcavage said. \u201cDuring COVID, we had turnover in the mid-teens but our turnover is back down to about 9%, which we\u2019re pretty happy about, but we still have a vacancy rate of about 18%. Because of the growth of the organization, adding beds and the growing needs for healthcare, we still have a pretty significant vacancy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Specifically, Geisinger implemented a yearlong residency program for new graduates, launched two or three different leadership development programs, and invested in technology as both a recruitment and retention tool, Tomcavage said.<\/p>\n
Virtual nurses, working remotely, help the bedside nurses with admission assessments, discharge assessments and patient education, she added.<\/p>\n
In 2022, in an effort to train additional caring and skilled nurses, Jersey College and Commonwealth Health established a School of Nursing on Moses Taylor Hospital\u2019s campus, serving the Scranton region.<\/p>\n
Jersey College\u2019s Scranton Campus has about 140 currently enrolled students and has graduated more than 80 nursing students, said Jessi Tillett, the college\u2019s manager of marketing services.<\/p>\n
The Jersey College campus at Moses Taylor complements a number of other local nursing education programs, including those offered by Lackawanna College, Marywood University, Luzerne County Community College, King\u2019s College, Misericordia University, Wilkes University, the University of Scranton, Penn State Scranton and other institutions.<\/p>\n
Registered nurse Jodi Spotts works in a recently renovated unit that expands inpatient capacity at the Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n
Raelene Brooks, Ph.D., dean of the College of Nursing at the University of Phoenix, listed the aging nursing workforce and a drop in enrollment as the two biggest factors driving the nationwide nursing shortage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is less interest in the profession and nursing is expensive,\u201d she said. \u201cIt costs a lot for a university or a higher education system to support a nursing program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooks added that the rigors of a nursing career \u2014 specifically for those working in high-stress, rapid-action environments like emergency rooms \u2014 take a toll on the individuals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of mental health issues in nursing that are unspoken,\u201d she said. \u201cBurnout is just the tip of the iceberg.\u201d<\/p>\n
After working the night shift as a nurse in a Level 1 trauma unit in downtown San Diego for more than 17 years, Brooks still deals with the aftermath of the experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have PTSD from taking care of gunshot wound victims and their families,\u201d she said. \u201cIf it\u2019s gang related, the perpetrator is still wanting to finish up the job, so I\u2019m taking care of a patient and in fear for my life. It\u2019s like going into a war zone every single day and it\u2019s not uncommon for nurses to feel that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooks feels that inconsistencies regarding requirements for transferring credits between institutions create a barrier for many students.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the Philippines, there\u2019s a wonderful pipeline where all schools have the same expectation if you choose a profession,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can complete your degree in about three years after high school because you\u2019ve already been prepped and groomed. I think, given the freedom we have to be creative and innovative in curriculum, it can be a barrier for potential students because some universities may have higher admission criteria and different prerequisite courses. I don\u2019t think we do a very good job creating a streamlined approach and pipeline to make it more seamless for students to progress. We\u2019re seeing a lot of nurses who are graduating with a bachelor\u2019s degree, and the mean age is 25. If I had a magic wand and could fix the nursing world, I would say streamline the pipeline process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooks believes a passionate national campaign geared around the personal, empathetic aspect of nursing would help boost interest in the profession.<\/p>\n
\u201cJohnson & Johnson did a great campaign on caring and compassion, and helping others, about 20 years ago, and I think that speaks to this generation,\u201d she said. \u201cI really feel strongly about the way nurses are portrayed. If we could focus on the caring and compassion, and the patient-centered advocacy, I think that speaks to the human heart, which is what you need in nursing. You need the skill and the intelligence, but you have to be in it for the right reason.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Geisinger officials say they\u2019ve taken many steps to attract and retain nurses amid a nationwide shortage: \u2022\u2002Partnering with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[60,201,182,28,178,180,179,181],"class_list":["post-182623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-business","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}