State of Nursing in Kansas report released by the Kansas Nursing Workforce Center

The Kansas Nursing Workforce Center, based at the University of Kansas School of Nursing, has issued its first official report. The center, formed in August 2023, came out of a series of statewide discussions regarding nursing shortages and workforce issues nationally and across the state.

“When we conducted listening sessions with our stakeholders, the number one ask they had for us was to pull together disparate sources of information about the Kansas nursing workforce so that it would be easier for them to make informed decisions,” said Amy Garcia, DNP, FAAN, co-director of the Kansas Nursing Workforce Center and interim associate dean for faculty practice and community engagement at KU School of Nursing.

“The report serves as a credible source that will connect information and data in a way that’s usable for those making decisions about the nursing workforce — those who educate, retain and sustain the workforce,” said Barbara MacArthur, M.N., FAAN, co-director of the Kansas Nursing Workforce Center. “Access to care lies in the public domain and the report should be a tool for those who need a comprehensive understanding of nursing in our state.”

The report is available without charge, and it was compiled using data from 17 different sources, including national and state databases and academic reports. The intent is to update the report in 2025 and then every two years to coincide with the release of new national data from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing.

The report was authored by Garcia and MacArthur, as well as Shin Hye Park, Ph.D., a nurse scientist at KU School of Nursing, and Alexander Alsup, M.S., a data scientist in the Department of Biostatistics and Data Science at the University of Kansas School of Medicine.

Key findings

Analyzing data from so many different sources allowed the confirmation of many hypotheses as well as uncovering correlations and connections that were unexpected.

“We hypothesized that the communities with more nurses would have better overall health outcomes,” Garcia said, noting that the authors analyzed county health outcome rankings and county health factor rankings, comparing those with the number of nurses per 1,000 residents. “We saw a direct correlation that was measurable and significant. The Kansans living in counties with fewer nurses have a lower quality of life and die younger. Simply put: The number of nurses matters to the health and well-being of Kansans.”

Among the key findings were:

• The population of Kansas is growing more diverse, yet registered nurses in Kansas remain primarily white and female.
• Registered nurses in Kansas are less likely to be actively employed in nursing than the national average. However, 85% of registered nurses and licensed practical nurses in Kansas are actively employed in nursing.
• Nursing shortages are anticipated in the future as 29% of registered nurses and 23% of licensed practical nurses in Kansas are planning to retire within the next five years. And enrollments in nursing education programs are down 39% over the last 10 years.
• Registered nurses in Kansas reported working more hours that the national sample, with 36% typically working more than 40 hours per week.
• A high proportion — 74% — of unemployed registered nurses in Kansas report that taking care of home and family is their primary reason for unemployment, compared with the national sample at 47%.

“We were surprised about the reasons Kansas registered nurses listed for why they are unemployed,” Garcia said, noting that 72% reported that they left nursing to take care of home and family. “This is very different from the national survey. And when we dug deeper, we found that this was consistent for Kansas nurses for nearly 10 years. This needs to be studied further. Could something as simple as childcare or eldercare be deployed to entice nurses back to work?”

What’s next?

In many ways, the work of the Kansas Nursing Workforce Center has just begun. It will continue to receive support from KU School of Nursing, will apply for grants and will seek philanthropic funding while also remaining a member of the National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers. That arrangement allows the Kansas center to share information and best practices on a national level with 44 centers from 44 other states.

“We have had remarkable support from the national forum members,” MacArthur said.  “While each state has unique characteristics, there are many similarities in workforce issues. There have been programming and efforts that have worked well and those without measurable impact. We are willing to learn, collaborate and then proceed with planning and execution for Kansas.”  

As well as keeping up the national cycle of industrywide reports, the center plans to issue future specialty reports on many other topics, from interdisciplinary maternity care to long-term care nursing and the role of nurse preceptors.

“By measuring what matters, we believe this report and those to come and the original research that is underway will empower the decision makers to invest in specific projects and programs to increase the number of nurses in Kansas,” said MacArthur. “Our focus is determining the true impact that nurses make on the health of Kansans — their personal health, the health of their families and the viability of their communities.”