Survey: 63% of younger nurses could leave profession

Editor's Note

In this survey by the American Nurses Foundation, published March 1, 63% of nurses younger than 35 years said they intend to leave or are considering leaving the profession. A total of 12,694 nurses were surveyed.

Other findings for nurses under 35 years of age, include:

• 46% said they are not- or not at all emotionally healthy
• 66% said they feel anxious
• 43% said they feel depressed
• 2 out of 3 said they feel burned out
• only 19% said they feel supported by their organizations.

When nurses were asked why they wanted to leave the profession, their top reasons were insufficient staffing and work negatively affecting their health and wellbeing.

The goal of this survey was to identify the continued impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on America’s nurses.