Nursing Shortage Reaches Critical Level (con't) Registered nurses under the age of 30 represent only 10 percent of the total nursing work force. At the same time that demand for nurses is rising, the supply of newly graduated nurses is decreasing. The decline in the availability of registered nurses is accelerating as the first of 78 million baby boomers enter their peak years of health care needs. When you consider that a large portion of the nursing work force is rapidly approaching retirement, and there are very few younger nurses to replace them, it is easy to see that today’s critical nursing shortage will become a health care crisis in five to ten years.

What does this mean to you?