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Nurses Are the Backbone of US Healthcare—and They’re Getting Screwed

A recent hospital stay reminded me of the incredible work that nurses do. So why are we making it harder for them to do their jobs?

Red Rocks Community College student Ariana Lazo practices wrapping the wrist of a training manikin during a nursing skills lab class on Thursday, April 9, 2026, at the school’s Arvada Health Sciences Campus in Arvada, Colorado.

I unexpectedly found myself in the hospital for six days last week, including a five-hour surgery last Monday. This was, to say the least, unusual. Though I work in public health, I don’t typically get anywhere near healthcare itself. Most of my experience of the healthcare system is in outpatient services to manage my antiretroviral drugs or deal with the chronic maladies of growing older. So, to find myself in a hospital room for almost a week was a new experience.

I have lots of thoughts about my stay, but one thing stands out to me: Nurses are care. I did see doctors, but they showed up in the mornings for brief visits—my life in room 954 on the day-to-day and night-to-night was in the hands of a dozen nurses. For six days, they were in and out of my room constantly: to take blood, check my vitals, make sure I was comfortable, attend to my symptoms, help me get to the bathroom, and deal with an infernal IV pump which kept going offline and beeping an alarm at all hours. I was probably the least sick person on the unit, but the nurses took care of me with the same measure of attention and solicitude as the worst off among us.

Nurses are the backbone of healthcare in America, and nursing is the largest healthcare profession, with more than 5 million registered nurses across the country. Yet, we still have shortages of nurses in the US and by 2035 these deficits will hit these states the hardest: Washington (26 percent shortage), Georgia (21 percent), California (18........

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