Healthcare

Combating NJ’s Healthcare Worker Shortage

Higher education institutions seek to graduate more nurses and other healthcare professionals who are steeped in leading-edge techniques.

By George N. Saliba, Contributing Writer On Jan 13, 2026

While New Jersey’s current nursing shortage is projected to become a severe 24,450-nurse deficit by 2036, dozens of educational institutions throughout the state are aggressively striving to fill the worker pipeline with highly trained nurses as well as an array of other healthcare professionals in short supply.

In addition to not having enough registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs), New Jersey has a significant shortage of certified nursing assistants (CNAs) who are required in long-term care facilities, as well as shortages of other medical professionals such as respiratory therapists, geriatricians and primary care physicians. With physicians facing high education costs and particularly low reimbursement rates, a deficit of up to 3,000 New Jersey doctors is anticipated by 2036. And although the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute notes that the state ranks high (10th) in the number of total residents/fellows in primary care nationally, it ranks much lower (32nd) in retaining its newly trained physicians.

Adding to the broader equation is an aging and medically needy New Jersey population that has been swelling from 13.5% over the age of 65 in 2010 to what will be an estimated 20% over the age of 65 by 2030.

Nursing Shortages Causes and Solutions

New Jersey’s nursing shortage, in particular, has unique causes, as experts tell New Jersey Business Magazine it is fueled by workers who left the profession due to pandemic-related burnout, older nurses who are retiring, and newer nurses who leave hospitals after a few years of caring for too many patients in understaffed and stressful conditions.

Of note, the nursing shortage is not related to attracting new students. Instead, another reason why New Jersey is on track to have the fourth worst nursing shortage in the United States is a lack of nursing program seats. The New Jersey Collaborating Center for Nursing reports that a staggering 13,334 prospective students applied to nursing programs throughout the state in 2023 (latest statistics), although educational institutions had room for only 7,780 students, creating a backlog and waiting list scenario for thousands of people eager to care for patients in a career that has a statewide median salary of $100,152.

Demand at Colleges and Universities

Educational institutions tell New Jersey Business Magazine that they are struggling to meet student demand for many reasons. First, since nursing professors are required to hold advanced degrees, would-be educators often shun lower-paying academia and seek higher-paying careers in both clinical and administrative roles across the healthcare spectrum, thereby limiting colleges’ enrollment opportunities.

New Jersey colleges and universities likewise often don’t have enough openings for nursing prerequisite courses such as biology and anatomy/physiology, which are sought after not only by nursing students, but by those pursuing degrees across a broad range of healthcare and scientific disciplines.

There’s more: Nursing students must undergo clinical placements at hospitals as part of their training, and since hospitals are short-staffed and therefore limited in the number of students they can supervise, this creates yet another bottleneck in the nursing shortage scenario.

At times, New Jersey hospitals may ultimately hire nursing students who had been in clinical placements at their facilities, according to Elizabeth Mizerek, PhD, RN, FN-CSA, CEN, CPEN, CNE, FAEN, dean of science, health professions and nursing at Mercer County Community College. She tells New Jersey Business Magazine that hospitals have mentioned particular students they would eventually like to hire through a standard job application process.

Healthcare Worker Shortage Solutions

Even though higher education institutions face capacity-related issues, they are nonetheless aiming to reduce the nursing and overall healthcare worker shortages by increasing enrollment whenever possible.

Growth is clearly occurring: In 2022, Rowan University partnered with Virtua Health, South Jersey’s largest health system, to create Virtua Health College of Medicine & Life Sciences of Rowan University.

The college is comprised of three schools, one of which is the Rowan-Virtua Rita & Larry Salva School of Nursing & Health Professions. There were initially more than 1,000 applicants for a mere 60 nursing seats in an arrangement with Virtua that first confers a nursing diploma before students then pursue a bachelor’s of science in nursing. However, capacity was increased to approximately 130 seats and ultimately there will be 200 seats.

“We are in temporary space right now, but then we’ll be in our new nursing building, so we are trying to grow that number and grow capacity,” explains Peter Rattigan, PhD, dean of the Rowan-Virtua Rita & Larry Salva School of Nursing & Health Professions. Among the school’s numerous programs, it also offers a bachelor’s of science in respiratory therapy, replete with professional advanced study and clinical coursework.

More broadly, Rowan University includes three medical schools: Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, and Shreiber School of Veterinary Medicine, the first two which supply much-needed physicians for both New Jersey and the nation at large.

Leading-Edge Training

For nursing, enrollment is, again, limited, and colleges and universities sometimes only accept the most promising/talented students and then train them in ways that maintain New Jersey’s highly regarded healthcare quality, which is a need for many hospitals. This includes, in part, using advanced life-like mannequins that develop “medical symptoms” requiring rapid and/or specialized care.

“[The mannequins] speak to you; they complain to you, and they respond to you when you say, ‘How are you?’ … ‘Fine. But I feel pain, here,’” explains Minerva Salinas Guttman, EdD, RN, APN, associate dean of William Paterson University’s School of Nursing, which was established in 2023 and is one of the largest nursing programs in the state.

“[Students also have] a sim[ulation] lab for in-home care,” adds Joshua B. Powers, PhD, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at William Paterson University. “You walk into this room; imagine there’s all these papers and trash strewn around the floor. There’s a [simulation] dog that barks at you [and] is distracting you from caring for this woman (mannequin) who’s sitting in a chair with all kinds of [medical] issues that she’s navigating in the home setting.”

The Worker Pipeline and Soft Skills

Learning to cope with life-and-death situations as well as patient-related conversations surrounding them is additionally part of being a nurse, and educators are increasingly taking note as they aim to further increase the quality of the state’s healthcare systems.

Ramapo College of New Jersey now has a critical care pod as part of its simulation lab, allowing students “from early in their careers to get used to having difficult conversations with patients and their families so that when they enter the profession, they’re ready to have those difficult moments and meet [patients and families] as strong young professionals,” explains Michael Middleton, PhD, provost/vice president for teaching, learning and growth at Ramapo College of New Jersey. “That’s going to keep them in the field longer.”

Emerging Technology

Colleges and universities are meanwhile heeding their advisory boards in an era replete with telehealth, artificial intelligence (AI), and data-centric patient care. “We’re really trying to move as quickly as we can in a very fast-moving technology field, and our healthcare partners are wonderful in offering us advice and support [regarding] how we move to match what they’re doing,” Middleton says.

Several experts interviewed by New Jersey Business Magazine indicate that nursing and other medical students are being trained to use equipment found in today’s hospitals, including, say, the most recent generation of intravenous pumps.

Allied Health

Educational opportunities and corresponding healthcare system needs are not limited to four-year institutions: Dozens of opportunities exist in areas such as the aforementioned certified nursing assistant (CNA) programs, phlebotomy certification, emergency medical technician (EMT) certification, CT scan and MRI operator programs, as well as various iterations of respiratory therapy programs.

“Here at Mercer County Community College, we spend a lot of time thinking about these pathways for folks to be able to take the first step to get a job and get situated – get gainfully employed – but then come back to us and receive additional training,” explains MCCC’s Mizerek.

Conclusion

While educational institutions are often strained by capacity issues, they are nonetheless making significant progress toward easing the Garden State’s healthcare worker shortages. “With … the healthcare advisory and residency committees that have been formed within hospitals and healthcare, I think we are all working right now – to our best abilities – to not have such a [nursing] shortage in 2030,” concludes Kathleen M. Burke, PhD, RN, CPHQ, assistant dean of nursing programs/professor of nursing at Ramapo College.

To access more business news, visit NJB News Now.