According to September 2024 data from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), there are over 4.85 million registered nurses (RNs) in the U.S., making nursing the largest healthcare profession in the nation. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that there are an estimated 29 million nurses worldwide. The presence and numbers of nurses globally makes their impact even more significant.
However, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) projects a national shortage of 63,720 full-time RNs by 2030. The WHO estimates a staggering global shortage of 4.5 million nurses by the same year. Nurses are involved in every aspect of healthcare services around the world, and for that, they deserve immense appreciation and access to career-advancing education. With expertise gained in a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree, nurses can be leaders in addressing shortages worldwide.
In specific, flexible and highly accessible nursing education options like the online RN to BSN program from The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) can play an pivotal role in helping nurses expand in numbers and impact, meeting the growing need both nationally and globally. With the above statistics in mind, here is a look at global nursing as it currently stands.
The Nurse’s Worldwide Role
A world without nurses is almost impossible to imagine. Everywhere you turn, nurses are there to provide leading-edge treatments to patients from all walks of life. Nurses work in various settings — including wellness clinics, hospitals, schools, churches and businesses — and work with patients throughout the lifespan.
Nurses occupy these roles all over the world, from huge metropolitan cities to remote areas. Nurses work to provide care and save lives in standard healthcare settings as well as in outreach programs or through volunteering to serve those most in need in temporary refugee camps and warzones.
Why Nurses Matter in Global Health
In many locations throughout the world, there are not enough doctors available to provide the care that people need. Even in the U.S., nurses are often directly in charge of a patient’s day-to-day health. Nurses play a central role in making the connection between the health system and the community through education, direct care, public health initiatives and more. If it were not for nurses, individuals in underserved areas would not receive the healthcare services they need. Nurses make a major contribution by addressing various health issues, worldwide.
Here is a short list of service situations nurses might face:
- Control and treatment of infectious disease: Due to frequent global travel practices, our lives and health are interconnected. Nurses are at the forefront of helping control infectious diseases and global epidemics or pandemics as they care for patients’ daily needs. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how vital nurses are to mitigating international health crises.
- Birth and delivery: In various remote or rural areas throughout the world, there is not enough money to pay a doctor to set up a practice. Fortunately, nurse-midwives are excellent in the role of caring for mothers before, during and after childbirth.
- Primary care: In rural, remote or poverty-stricken areas, physicians may not be available to provide primary care services. nNurses are there to deliver many of those services that would otherwise be unavailable to the community.
- Wellness: Because of increased access to care and a commitment to patient advocacy, nurses can make a big impact on prevention and maintenance of chronic illnesses.
Partnerships and Collaboration
It is wonderful to see medical organizations in various areas of the world collaborate, and nurses are often at the center of these efforts. Here is an example of an innovative and resourceful partnership:
The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute created a nursing oncology partnership in collaboration with the nonprofit Partners in Health, cancer centers in the U.S. and healthcare organization in countries like Rwanda and Haiti. The Center for Global Cancer Medicine (CGCM) “strives to reduce the global cancer burden in resource-limited settings by developing oncology care delivery systems that aim to build capacity through teaching, professional development and research,” focusing on everything from global policy development to providing care in local clinics.
BSN-Prepared Nurses Provide Needed Leadership
Nurses are leaders who make a positive difference by advocating for health and providing healthcare throughout the world. In many instances, despite their significant contributions across the globe, the public does not recognize the critical work nurses do. Yet, as mentioned above, public perception of nurses shifted positively during the pandemic. This fostered awareness that, as the International Council of Nurses puts it, “Nursing is the cornerstone of health care systems worldwide.”
Nurses deserve to have a prominent voice when world leaders get together to address health issues and develop national and international policies. They also need access to more resources, such as mentorships, leadership and nursing education.
One way of receiving additional education and preparation is through accessible online programs like UTA’s. An online RN to BSN program is ideal for receiving high-quality education in an efficient, flexible and convenient way. Plus, in-depth BSN coursework prepares nurses to take on leadership roles, supporting the profession — and the public’s health — worldwide.
People who believe in the value of nursing should remind as many others as possible, as often as possible, about the value that nurses bring to the world. We need to advocate for nurses having a greater voice on the world stage. Their contributions to healthcare are already spectacular, but when they have a bigger platform, who knows how far they can go.
Learn more about UTA’s online RN to BSN program.
