Licensed (but Inactive) Registered Nurses printable pdf version

Georgia and the rest of the nation are facing critical shortages in a number of health professions, but none have been as highly publicized as the shortage of nurses. Seasoned nurses such as Susan Taft are forced to question whether “this nursing shortage [is] going to be The Big One?” But she can see that, “unlike previous shortages, . . . this one has additional permutations–an aging workforce, a newly-constrained health care industry, and a booming economy that lures workers into a variety of other pursuits. . . .”¹ Recommendations abound as to how the state of Georgia should respond to this shortage. One such recommendation deals with targeting licensed, inactive nurses for re-entry into the profession.

Of Georgia’s licensed registered nurse population, 14 percent are not currently employed in the nursing profession for reasons other than retirement. The majority of these individuals (72 percent) reported no current employment. The remainder are employed–but not as RNs. In total, nearly 10,000 skilled registered nurses retain Georgia licensure but are not working in the profession.

Of these inactive registered nurses licensed by the state of Georgia, more than 82 percent reside in Georgia; nine percent live in a contiguous state. More than half obtained their initial nursing license within the last 20 years. Nine percent of total RNs licensed during the 1990's are inactive; the percentage increases to more than 14 percent for RNs licensed during the 1980's. More than 60 percent of the non-practicing nurses who have maintained Georgia licensure are under the age of 50.

Clearly, the state’s licensed, but inactive, registered nurses represent a viable population to target for re-entry into the profession–a logical and practical option for providing immediate relief to the nursing shortages plaguing hospitals, clinics, practitioners’ offices, and other clinical employment settings across Georgia.

Notes:
For the purpose of this analysis, the term ‘inactive’ refers to RNs who responded to the RN Renewal Survey (1999-2001) with an employment status of ‘Not presently working’ or ‘Employed but not as an RN.’ ‘Other Status’ represents licensees who reported their status as full-time, part-time, or retired.

All data provided were collected during the 1999-2001 RN license renewal period.