Millennials Flock To Nursing

Facing a potential shortage due to Baby Boomers retiring, nursing has welcomed an unexpected surge of Millennials entering the field.

Those Millennials are nearly twice as likely to be nurses as their grandparents’ generation, the Baby Boomers, a recent Health Affairs study found. This trend has averted a potential workforce crisis and has implications for the future of nursing, said David Auerbach, one of the authors of the study.

“Definitely the composition of the workforce is shifting. In just a few years there will be more Millennials than Baby Boomers in the nursing workforce,” he said.

“We’re really seeing an influx of Millennial nurses into our workforce,” said Lisa Sparks, chief nursing officer at IU Health West Hospital in Avon. “I would say it’s been the most noticeable over the last 18 to 24 months.”

Experts point to a number of reasons Millennials are opting for nursing careers. Nursing schools have almost doubled enrollment in the past decade to help train a replacement workforce for the many nurses who will soon reach retirement age.

Read the article in its entirety at USAtoday.com
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/01/06/millennials-flock-nursing-staving-off-shortage/1010639001/