US Hospitals, Schools Bracing for Harder Nursing Shortage

The deficiency is part of an ongoing trend.

A poster in support of nurses hangs at a nurses station on a COVID-19 patient care floor at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital in Los Angeles on Jan. 6, 2021. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

When Rachel McKeown decided to enter the nursing program at Greenville Technical College (GTC) in upstate South Carolina in 2021, she had no worries about being accepted.

She had proven herself in both the inpatient and outpatient centers of the campus hospital and was in good shape in terms of grades and ability.