Nursing & Healthcare News

The Financial Impact of COVID-19 on Nurses

ANA survey finds many are facing budget woes

By Aaron SeversonNovember 9, 2020

1 min read

Has COVID-19 affected your bank account? A new survey from the American Nurses Foundation finds many nurses have taken a financial hit since the pandemic began.

Are You Better Off?

On the surface, it might seem that nurses would be better off than many during an economically devastating pandemic that has many businesses teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. After all, hospitals are essential services, and overall demand for nurses has seldom been greater.

Nonetheless, 56 percent of the more than 10,000 nurses who responded to a national survey conducted in July by the American Nurses Foundation (the philanthropic arm of the ANA) say they’re worse off financially than they were before COVID-19.

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While some nurses have been clocking a lot of overtime since the pandemic began, 27 percent say their hours have decreased while 14 percent have been furloughed or lost their jobs. Many nurses are also contending with a loss of household or family income.

Twenty-two percent of respondents say they’ve been supporting spouses, partners, parents or other loved ones, many of whom have also lost hours or seen their jobs disappear entirely.

Long-Term Pain

Even if the pandemic abates in the near future, the economic impact won’t immediately go away. Almost one-third of the nurses surveyed believe it will take a year or more for their finances to recover. In the meantime, many are cutting back on household expenditures, tapping their savings or retirement funds and running up additional credit card debt. Twenty-four percent say they’ve had to stop repaying their student loans.

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If that’s not concerning enough, one in three respondents say the COVID-19 pandemic has made them consider leaving the nursing profession for good. This could mean greater risk of a national nursing shortage.

You can find the full results of the survey — the latest in the Foundation’s “Pulse on the Nation’s Nurses” COVID-19 series — on the ANA website, https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/work-environment/health-safety/disaster-preparedness/coronavirus/what-you-need-to-know/financial-impact-survey/.

In this Article: ANA, COVID-19