BALTIMORE, MD—Maryland schools face a heightened risk during peak flu season due to a severe nationwide shortage of school nurses, according to a recent analysis that projects Maryland will have a 20% deficit of Registered Nurses (RNs) by 2037.
The shortage leaves thousands of students vulnerable to untreated illnesses and emergencies, as the problem is compounded by a national figure showing nearly 30% of U.S. schools lack a full-time RN.
Soliant Health, a leading healthcare staffing agency, highlighted Maryland as one of the states expected to experience the most significant long-term RN shortages. This exacerbates a crisis in schools that are already struggling to manage rising rates of chronic student health issues like asthma, diabetes, and severe allergies.
“For many children, the school nurse is their primary healthcare provider,” said Lesley Slaughter, Senior Vice President of Education at Soliant Health. “Without them, students in low-income and rural communities are left even more vulnerable to untreated illnesses and emergencies.”
Maryland Among Top States at Risk
Maryland’s projected 20% shortage of registered nurses by 2037 places it among the top states facing the most acute long-term deficits, trailing only North Carolina and Washington (both at 22%).
The crisis forces many school districts to rely on medically untrained personnel, such as teachers and administrators, to handle daily health issues and life-threatening emergencies.
“A diabetic child experiencing a severe drop in blood sugar or a student having an asthma attack needs immediate medical attention—without a trained nurse on-site, those situations can escalate quickly,” Slaughter noted.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Association of School Nurses recommend that every school have at least one RN. Nationally, only an estimated 64,240 RNs are employed in elementary and secondary schools, leaving 29.1% of schools without a registered nurse on staff.
Solutions Urged to Protect Students
To address the shortage and better protect Maryland students, Soliant Health is urging increased funding and policy changes. Suggested actions include:
- Increased funding for school nurse positions to ensure adequate staffing.
- Better recruitment and retention strategies, such as offering higher salaries or student loan forgiveness programs for school nurses.
- Innovative staffing solutions, like implementing telehealth services or mobile nursing units to support schools in underserved areas across the state.
As the general nursing shortage strains healthcare systems across the state, the time to address staffing for school-based healthcare is now, to ensure every student has access to a trained medical professional.
Which States Are Most at Risk?
The impact of the school nurse shortage is not evenly distributed. Using workforce projections data from the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA), Soliant identifies states that are expected to experience the most significant RN shortages by 2037:
- North Carolina – 22% shortage
- Washington – 22% shortage
- Maryland – 20% shortage
- South Carolina – 19% shortage
- Michigan – 19% shortage
- New Mexico – 19% shortage
- Oklahoma – 18% shortage
- California – 18% shortage
- Idaho – 17% shortage
- Georgia – 17% shortage
Photo by Pixabay from Pexels
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