Amid a nationwide nursing shortage, innovative strategies are emerging to attract the next generation of healthcare heroes. From holistic admission processes to dual degree programs, the race is on to fill the healthcare gap by redefining how we recruit nursing students.

Nursing shortages are causing issues for hospitals across the country, including Southern Nevada, but while COVID-19 made the situation worse, shortages have existed for decades before. UNLV Nursing Professor and BSN Program Director Angela Silvestri-Elmore explains the systemic circumstances that have perpetuated past and present labor issues; and what needs to be normalized for nurses to provide a high level of care within and outside shortage-related conditions.

Nurses in red T-shirts — some with the word “heroes” crossed out and replaced with the word “humans” — held signs and played music outside of St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center on a June afternoon as passing drivers honked in support.

Many health care workers are exhausted and overworked as staffing shortages remain a major issue in the valley.

Nursing student Acacia Herndon doesn’t graduate from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas until June, but she’s already getting a jump on her career and providing some much-needed assistance at Centennial Hills Hospital during the stressful COVID-19 pandemic.

UNLV nursing student Acacia Herndon doesn’t graduate until June, but she’s already getting a jump on her career and providing some much-needed assistance at Centennial Hills Hospital during the stressful COVID-19 pandemic.