ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
One of the job fields being hit particularly hard in modern times is nursing, and there has been much work done to figure out how to prevent that from happening.
“Right now, the U.S. is amidst a national healthcare professional shortage, and Kansas faces a severe statewide nursing shortage, with recent data showing a decline in the number of registered nurses since 2019,” Emmi Sosa, director of clinical services at MedPro Healthcare Staffing, said. “The number of registered nurses has dropped 9.6 percent from 2019 to July 2025. Rural areas are hit hardest, as burnout drives nurses out and physicians are forced to fill roles they weren’t trained for, and these pressures are delaying care and putting entire communities at risk. As a nurse myself, and directly from my role at the patient's bedside and now in the corporate sector, the shortage of nurses seems to be getting worse. What I've noticed is fewer nurses and sicker patients, which ultimately turns into a patient safety issue. And it's becoming not just a trend but a significant issue that needs addressing, so now, with my role in the corporate sector, one of my main goals is to come up with some creative solutions to help with this issue.”
If that shortage keeps growing, Sosa said, that could lead to severe repercussions.
“On one hand, there are nurses who are feeling overworked, burnout is happening, and they're looking for roles away from the patients' bedside or outside a hospital setting so they can continue their career path. However, that could leave communities short of healthcare professionals, and if the shortage gets worse, patients are going to suffer more and not receive the care they need, especially people in the more rural areas,” Sosa said. “That leads to transfer times getting delayed and fewer beds available since there aren't enough nurses/staff to be able to take care of the patients needing care. I also believe increased communication as well as providing those frontline employees with a method of sharing concerns and being open and honest about the challenges they face day in and day out would definitely be beneficial. Those frontline workers should feel like there is a trusting relationship between them and their bosses, and they should feel there is that collaboration to make sure the patients in that facility are getting the best care possible. I think with time, without plugging that hole, so to speak, we're going to see those numbers get worse.”
Sosa said she and her staff have worked for a long time gathering data.
“There are two different divisions to our organization – we have the domestic side of things, which is our original staffing portion where we did recruitment for domestically trained allied health professionals and nurses and staff in facilities throughout the U.S.,” Sosa said. “Within the past 20 years, we've started our international division, which is where we recruit foreign-educated healthcare professionals, especially nurses and medical technologists. In order for us to truly customize the needs of facilities and the communities where they're located and the patients they serve, we have to be gathering data constantly, it's an all-involving chore. There's not really any science behind it other than to make sure we stay updated on the latest trends and the latest data possible. One of the areas of my job, where I find a lot of success, is how we're able to work with decision-makers at hospitals and identify what their needs are and learn what their goals are for their patients in their community, and that way, we can find a solution. When we bring in the foreign-educated nurses, they have to meet the same standards as our U.S.-based nurses, and they all have to be fully vetted and referenced. Nurses who are interested in integrating and putting down roots in a community and being part of a more long-term solution could potentially integrate into that facility's full-time staff.”
Like other job fields, Sosa said recruitment and retention are critical.
“For me, I think the challenge is trying to really get across the importance of being able to make a long-term plan because facilities in smaller communities have more turnover and can't really sustain things like a facility in a larger metro area,” Sosa said. “When we are looking to try and fill those gaps in staffing, we're very transparent about the community they're entering in, and there are many of our foreign-educated nurses who want to work in smaller communities because they're more welcoming and they prefer that vibe. We do our best to be that bridge between the nurses and potential facilities and make sure everyone is where they're supposed to go and be part of their patients' lives. Every day, we are proud of the work we do, and we learn a lot from past decisions and work we've done, and I want to see us continue doing that. We have to listen to not just the leaders at hospitals but also the frontline workers and nurses so we know what they need in order to be satisfied and feel like they're actually being taken seriously so they can provide the best care possible, which is what all nurses strive for anyway. If everyone comes to the table, we can all work together a lot better.”
Overall, Sosa said, it can be hard to predict what the future will bring.
“I think right now is a great time to start having conversations about this. They can be rather uncomfortable conversations, and very few people actually WANT to have them, but they're definitely necessary in terms of making sure patient safety/care is paramount,” Sosa said. “I think having these open conversations and educating ourselves about potential outcomes and how things are trending and making sure the frontline employees have a voice and are being heard is important. Retention is also important because you have that pipeline of vetted people who can step up. This is a situation that's no longer acute but turning more into a chronic issue. I appreciate how there are organizations who are truly dedicated to healthcare and patients and the communities these facilities are serving, and we're more than happy to be part of the solution.”
