State working to stem growing nursing shortage problem

Citing ominous figures, State Sen. April Weaver and Peggy Benson, executive officer of the Alabama Board of Nursing, said the Legislature is working to address the state’s shortage of licensed nurses. Weaver (R-Briarfield) and Henson spoke Friday with Todd Stacy on “Capital Journal.” Benson said there are 97,000 licensed nurses; down from 104,000. Even more troubling, she said, is that a recent survey shows 38,000 of those current licensed nurses plan to leave the profession within the next five years. “When we saw that number, we knew that we had to look at other demographics to see how many