The Georgia Board of Healthcare Workforce (GBHW) has published a first-ever online interactive dashboard showing 164,524 nurses licensed in Georgia with an average age of 47.  The new internet dashboard allows users to monitor the supply and distribution of Georgia's actively licensed nurses, as well as physicians and physician assistants (www.healthcareworkforce.georgia.gov/physician-workforce-data).  The dashboard includes the most recent nurse and population statistics currently available at the state and county level and measures nurses' density per 100,000 area residents.  The nursing data were compiled and analyzed in collaboration with the Georgia Board of Nursing, the Georgia Board of Healthcare Workforce and the Georgia Nursing Leadership Coalition (GNLC) Workforce Center.  The dashboard is updated annually after nursing relicensure.  (See URL above, Nursing Tab, for nursing workforce data.)

"This dashboard is an invaluable tool for Georgia's healthcare industry, since it shows -- at a glance -- how many nurses reside in each county, what license they hold (Registered Nurse, Nurse Practitioner, Certified Nurse Midwife, etc.) age and gender.  This type of information is crucial as state agencies direct medical resources, impacting federal grant applications.  The interactive presentation of healthcare workforce data across professions makes it easy to determine which areas of our state are medically underserved, and where education and training programs could be most valuable," said Lisa Wright Eichelberger, Ph.D., RN, dean and professor, Clayton State University, and chair, GNLC Nursing Workforce Data Advisory Committee. 

Nurses at all levels are required to renew their licenses every two years. Registered nurses have the option to complete a voluntary workforce survey in addition to the required items to capture demographics as part of the license renewal process.  Survey completion is mandatory in Georgia for dentists and dental hygienists, but not for nurses, according to Eichelberger. 

The GNLC Workforce Center is working with the state legislature to mandate survey completion for nurses.  “Hospitals, public health agencies and educational programs certainly need the most accurate information to staff appropriately.  Also, health professionals themselves can use the information to target areas where their services are needed.  The current pandemic has clearly demonstrated why we need a well-trained healthcare workforce, and that there are still areas of our state that are severely underserved," Eichelberger said.